“ A programmer is greatly influenced by the language in which programs are written; there is an overwhelming tendency to prefer constructions that are simplest in that language, rather than those that are best for the machine. By understanding a machine-oriented language, the programmer will tend to use a much more efficient method; it is much closer to reality.
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Computer-Programming-Fundamental-Algorithms/dp/0201896834/ref=pd_sim_b_1
