Everything is easier once you torture yourself with trying to learn Assembler :)
Definitely pick a simpler assembly than x86 assembly, and it's not so bad. I learned 68HC11 assembly which has been a boon for understanding what's happening underneath the hood.
Even today, I still find 68000 the most comfortable. It is almost easier than writing C.
Hmm speaking of nostalgia, are there hobby z80 boards? Perhaps with enough peripherals to run cp/m?
I do mean real z80s not emulators.
The Retrobrew community has designed a few of them, even as SBCs[0]. There's definitely more elsewhere.
Ah thanks but that's beyond my skills/enthusiasm. I'd rather pay for a ready made board.
The idea is not to write apps for a living in assembler, but to get an idea of what's going on under the hood. Just as C will help understanding what's going on under the hood of Javascript/Python etc.
I dunno, I read Programming from the Ground Up, it's fine. World would be in better shape if that thorough commenting style was used more often.