
Ask HN: What is the most elegant instruction set - jdmoreira
Let&#x27;s optimize for hand written assembly and developer sanity but also fun.<p>What is the best instruction set &#x2F; assembly language?<p>I&#x27;ll accept both virtual machines and hardware.
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jacquesm
My own preferences: 6809, 68K, ARM, and if x86 would be on the list at all it
would be dead last.

Developer sanity would be my main driver for the lineup, with the note that of
course a 6809 is a bit of a limited environment and there never was as far as
I know a 68x version in 64 bits.

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Gibbon1
Never used the 6809, but considered it for a project. Seemed to me to be a
very clean true 16 bit design. Also was on the verge of being obsolete when it
was released.

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jonjacky
Which Machines Do Computer Architects Admire? (2001)

[https://people.cs.clemson.edu/~mark/admired_designs.html](https://people.cs.clemson.edu/~mark/admired_designs.html)

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jacquesm
That's a bit like asking the butcher which butcher has the best meat.

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jonjacky
No, these are architects in 2001 looking back at earlier machines that
influenced them.

