The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's
talk page or in a
deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
An article on a single instruction in some version(s) of the Intel/AMD x86 architecture, consisting of very little more than specifications copied from a manual. From what I gather there is a lot of change around these from one generation to the next. Articles on single instructions from every notable computer would constitute a huge, make-work, cluttery project with dozens of disambiguation pages (how many computers had a NOP instruction?). The level of detail is excessive, and in practice the x86 devices are the only ones with these articles.
Mangoe (
talk)
12:44, 13 August 2018 (UTC)reply
I am also nominating the following related pages on the same basis:
Comment, this appears to be part of a
manual, was this a significant development in x86 architecture? could it be redirected to
x86 with a few extra words there (that also looks manualist/instructionalist) (although that article is 11th words so probably needs pruning/splitting)? ditto with the others.
Coolabahapple (
talk)
01:09, 22 August 2018 (UTC)reply
Keep,
NOTPAPER. If there were an infinite number of instructions, I'd see the logic, but as there is a finite number there's no practical reason not to have an article for each. In the alternative, there should be notability guidelines to help explain when an instruction is or isn't notable enough for its own article. JMP, TEST and INT are more than notable enough, HLT and the various MOVxxx instructions less so. —
Locke Cole •
t •
c18:13, 22 August 2018 (UTC)reply
Enterprisey, there are dozens of technical references that include these instructions, as well as many books on programming for the x86 processors that include discussions on them as well. In the case of INT, I know there was a very popular list of interrupts maintained by Ralf Brown. As an aside: assembly language was one of the original methods of programming computers. Just like using a flint and stone was the primary method of creating fire for a time, we shouldn't let this be lost to history simply because it's fallen out of fashion for computer programmers today. I see potential for growth going forward, and believe this part of computing history to be important enough to keep. —
Locke Cole •
t •
c17:57, 28 August 2018 (UTC)reply
Fair point. Some of the commands should get their own articles, although I still think others should just get sections in a bigger article (e.g. all but HLT, INT, and JMP). I'll update my recommendation.
Enterprisey (
talk!)
05:51, 2 September 2018 (UTC)reply
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's
talk page or in a
deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's
talk page or in a
deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
An article on a single instruction in some version(s) of the Intel/AMD x86 architecture, consisting of very little more than specifications copied from a manual. From what I gather there is a lot of change around these from one generation to the next. Articles on single instructions from every notable computer would constitute a huge, make-work, cluttery project with dozens of disambiguation pages (how many computers had a NOP instruction?). The level of detail is excessive, and in practice the x86 devices are the only ones with these articles.
Mangoe (
talk)
12:44, 13 August 2018 (UTC)reply
I am also nominating the following related pages on the same basis:
Comment, this appears to be part of a
manual, was this a significant development in x86 architecture? could it be redirected to
x86 with a few extra words there (that also looks manualist/instructionalist) (although that article is 11th words so probably needs pruning/splitting)? ditto with the others.
Coolabahapple (
talk)
01:09, 22 August 2018 (UTC)reply
Keep,
NOTPAPER. If there were an infinite number of instructions, I'd see the logic, but as there is a finite number there's no practical reason not to have an article for each. In the alternative, there should be notability guidelines to help explain when an instruction is or isn't notable enough for its own article. JMP, TEST and INT are more than notable enough, HLT and the various MOVxxx instructions less so. —
Locke Cole •
t •
c18:13, 22 August 2018 (UTC)reply
Enterprisey, there are dozens of technical references that include these instructions, as well as many books on programming for the x86 processors that include discussions on them as well. In the case of INT, I know there was a very popular list of interrupts maintained by Ralf Brown. As an aside: assembly language was one of the original methods of programming computers. Just like using a flint and stone was the primary method of creating fire for a time, we shouldn't let this be lost to history simply because it's fallen out of fashion for computer programmers today. I see potential for growth going forward, and believe this part of computing history to be important enough to keep. —
Locke Cole •
t •
c17:57, 28 August 2018 (UTC)reply
Fair point. Some of the commands should get their own articles, although I still think others should just get sections in a bigger article (e.g. all but HLT, INT, and JMP). I'll update my recommendation.
Enterprisey (
talk!)
05:51, 2 September 2018 (UTC)reply
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's
talk page or in a
deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.