Comment by waynecochran

Intel architecture is loaded with historical artifacts. The switch in how segment registers were used as you went from real mode to protected mode was an incredible hardware hack to keep older software working. I blame Intel for why so many folks avoid assembly language. I programmed in assembly for years using TI's 84010 graphics chips and the design was gorgeous -- simple RISC instruction set, flat address space, and bit addressable! If during the earlier decades folks were programming using chips with more elegant designs, far more folks would be programming in assembly language (or at least would know how to).