Ah, the memory access stuff: that was what I was getting at. Thanks.
Oh, I've used Java in business. But you can't implement assembler in it, that's for sure (otherwise it woudn't be platform-independent), and even C/C++ is pretty poorly implemented in machine code (especially by a certain Redmond compiler) ... try dissaembling parts of Windows, for example, you'd be amazed at how much decidely un-optimized junk is in there ... "
So any real speed is generally garnered by a direct assembler-coded manipulation of the registers ... which is fiddly and generally only used for high-traffic subroutines (unless you are a friend of mine who prefers to programme in assembler).