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* Most of the historical reasons for including assembler are no longer valid. Modern compilers can out-perform most hand-optimized assembly code, atomic operations can be handled by libraries or [[Compiler Intrinsics|compiler intrinsics]], and most hardware access should be performed through the operating system or appropriate libraries.
* A new architecture has appeared: Aarch64, which is part of [http://www.arm.com/products/processors/instruction-set-architectures/armv8-architecture.php ARMv8]. This is the first new [[Computer Architecture|computer architecture]] to appear in several years (at least, the first mainstream computer architecture).
* There are over 1400 software packages/modules present in GNU Linux systems which contain architecture-specific [[Assembly Language|assembly language code]]or have other portability issues. Most of these packages cannot be built on Aarch64 systems without modification.
==== Course Projects ====