There are three basic areas of assembly programming: the microcontroller based assembly, the language for high-end user computers and mainframe assembly programming for large systems. Most people are familiar with the microcontroller based assembly because they’re used on everything from cell phones and mp3 players to computers and laptops. The assembly language for high-end computer systems is the high-level language for creating the guts and brains of large programs. Most computer languages have a family of related utilities that allow programmers to create modular programs (functions that compile over multiple executions) on a single processor. These programs are called “threads” and run on a mainframe on which many other threads to run simultaneously. A thread can perform anything from reading input to output; all the programmer has to do is create the right function for the computer system.
Most computer languages don’t natively support the assembly language for high-end systems, so programmers need to learn another way. They do this by writing a series of C-like extensions to the C standard library. However, it can be difficult for beginners to learn and understand this new syntax. So, instead of learning assembly, some companies pay someone to do an assembly program for them.
There are several ways to pay someone to do this job for you. You might decide to pay someone in person. Some computer companies have assembly specialists on staff, and you might contact one of them for a project. Alternatively, some companies have hired or contract out their assembly work to outside contractors. In either case, you’ll need to make sure the person you hire is experienced enough to do the job, and that they’re going to do it properly – it’s very easy for junior coders to accidentally create a bad program that’ll cause serious problems.
Another option is to pay someone to develop your program. You can hire an independent contractor to write an assembly program (with either an open source or proprietary software license) and have the program developed and tested by another independent party before you release it. This option offers a way to test your assembly language program in real conditions before you put it on the shelf. Of course, an independent contractor won’t be cheap. If you’re willing to pay someone to develop your program, it may be a good idea to hire an assembly language developer to write the assembly code.
The third type of outsourcing assembly programming is to outsource the whole assembly process. You might find it cheaper to have an assembly language programmer create a whole program for you from scratch, rather than having to outsource the assembly work. For this last option, however, it’s important to make sure that the outsourced assembly work is as good as, if not better than, the programming work that was done internally. Otherwise, you could end up with a cheaply written but error-prone program that doesn’t function correctly, or one that causes too much trouble for your customers.
There are three ways to pay for assembly programming: you can use an outside company to do it, you can contract out the assembly programming (also known as microchip assembly or ATM) to a company that specializes in it, or you can do the assembly programming yourself. To use an outside contractor to do the assembly programming, you must find an established company that does this kind of work and is capable of providing reliable, quality services for the price you’re willing to pay. To contract out the assembly programming, you’ll need to either pay them a lump sum up front, or find a way to pay them on a regular basis, like with monthly salaries or a project-based pay schedule. The third option is the best one for most people, as it allows them to keep a job that typically doesn’t require a lot of skill, and doesn’t require a lot of experience either. Contracting out the assembly language programming to a company that specializes in it allows you to control costs and ensure that quality is delivered, while giving you the opportunity to choose who your vendors are and how you go about paying them.
If you decide to do your own assembly programming, it’s important to keep in mind that there are three different types of assembly: machine code, HDL, and device driver assembly. Machine code assembly is the most common form of assembly and is often done at the device manufacturer’s side using a series of instructions, or on a controller peripheral like an Ethernet card or serial port. HDL assembly language is mostly done at the software side, on a programmable logic system (PLC) or microcontroller, though some HDL languages also target hardware via I/O pins or even removable interferences.
