Should questions about assembly code include architecture / platform tags?

Question

I was reading this question about a FizzBuzz implementation in assembly for the ATmega16.

I suggested that the OP include a tag indicating the architecture, because the fact that it was for an 8-bit AVR platform wasn't obvious. The OP commented that there are no architecture tags on Code Review.

My question: Should there be tags for architectures, particularly for questions about assembly code?

On Stack Overflow (where I spend most of my time), I often make the same suggestion for questions without such tags, because they help frame the question before digging into it.

Answer 1

Yes, there should be tags to refine the assembly tag, but the granularity of the architecture should be sensible.

The current system does not seem ideal, but it is reasonable. Currently few assembly questions are tagged with a specific architecture, but it is clear that the "default" architecture is "x86" unless otherwise specified. This architecture is often refined with linux and/or windows.

To differentiate those times when the architecture is not x86, there's a few other tags too: lc-3, tis-100, and the more generic embedded that covers a lot.

So, the real question is whether there's enough atmel specific questions to start carving that off from the more generic embedded. For the specific ATmega16, probably not, and for the atmel family as a group, still probably not.

Answer 2

There are many, many different types of architectures that people could be using: this creates a lot of very specific tags that may not be used that often.

I think it would be better to just include the name of the architecture somewhere in the beginning of the post and before the code.

Answer 3

The architecture of an assembly program is a vital part of the program itself. Every architecture has a unique assembly language that differs in many aspects. For example, ARM and x86 assembly are about as similar to each other as Pascal and C. People trying to help others with assembly reviews need to know the architecture to be able to help as they are often only familiar with a couple architectures. If the architecture is not tagged, it can be very hard to find questions to answer.

All review requests should have their architecture tagged.