Small embedded systems. There are microcontrollers that cost like 3 cents in bulk. 8-bit machines with a few kilobytes of PROM and perhaps just 64 bytes of RAM. While such machines often do have C compilers (of a sort) for them, old-school optimization techniques sometimes come into play.
I used to enjoy that stuff, but these days if it seems like a job requires any significant assembly, I just turn it down. I hate worrying about every single byte of memory, it takes all the fun out for me, but I do know those who love figuring out a tough problem and always having to be efficient with every bit and byte.
There are tough problems at every layer of the stack. Granted, the problems look very different, but they’re no less challenging. I think that is one of the great things about being a software developer - wherever you look, there are interesting things to explore. I studied assembly some 20+ years ago and have barely seen it since, though I’ve worked on a lot of complex technical problems since then.
That's me. I love figuring out more memory-efficient or less-cycle-use ways to do the same thing on my microcontrollers. Save x bytes here to add new feature y. Maybe it's nostalgia for an era of programming I missed out on (80-90s DOS game development)? Or it just scratches some itch in my brain.
Heh, different strokes for different folks. For me, the closer I am working to the metal, the more I enjoy the work. I especially enjoy squeezing every drop out of the system, so worrying about every byte, and minimizing cycles, is part of the fun.
