[cmroanirgo]

Agree.

I would add that even good old, rock solid assembler isn't a straight entry point into controlling the CPU, but is now just an abstraction over µOPs. Abstractions surround us these days, and for each of us, we find differing levels of what's tolerable vs what should be known about the next layer below.

I'm personally (kinda) ok with not knowing too much about the sub-assembler processes that happen inside the literal black box called a CPU, but I know that for branch optimisation, it's important.