this is my assessment of the situation. my opinion could change...
@ezio @0x47df The 84CSE (basically a prototype version of the CE hardware in the bulky AF older case; AFAIK the main difference is that the CPU is somewhat slower?) has no such restrictions IIRC, but I haven't checked recently because I don't need to use that awful thing anymore. (It's excruciatingly slow even by TI-84 standards)
If I remember the drama of the time correctly, the assembly restrictions are probably because someone figured out a way to jailbreak the calculator to invalidate some of the "test mode" protections (disable programs for the duration of an exam) using an assembly program?