Should high level languages be used to write systems software?

Abstract

Most of us write our programs in whatever language is most convenient for the problem at hand. Often this means, not so much that the language is well suited to the problem, but simply that it's the best suited of the choices available. Particularly with microprocessors and many minicomputers, we don't have a very wide choice of available software. Perhaps we have only an assembler or only a Basic interpreter. Those who have a choice, or who are responsible for developing compilers and other basic systems software, must determine how much money to spend and where to spend it, becoming embroiled in such questions as what high level languages, if any, should be used or how important it is to develop a good assembler versus a good high level language compiler for our systems work.