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In computer programming, machine code is computer code consisting of machine language instructions, which are used to control a computer's central processing unit (CPU). For conventional binary computers , machine code is the binary representation of a computer program which is actually read and interpreted by the computer.
In computer programming, assembly language (alternatively assembler language [1] or symbolic machine code), [2] [3] [4] often referred to simply as assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence between the instructions in the language and the architecture's machine code instructions. [5]
Machine code is the form in which code that can be directly executed is stored on a computer. It consists of machine language instructions, stored in memory, that perform operations such as moving values in and out of memory locations, arithmetic and Boolean logic, and testing values and, based on the test, either executing the next instruction in memory or executing an instruction at another ...
Individual machine languages are specific to a family of processors; machine-language code for one family of processors cannot run directly on processors in another family unless the processors in question have additional hardware to support it (for example, DEC VAX processors included a PDP-11 compatibility mode).
Low-level memory and hardware details must be manually managed which is often bug-prone. [2] Programs are machine-dependent, so different versions must be written for every target machine architecture. [3] The vast majority of programs are written in a third-generation programming language or a fourth-generation programming language.
The first generation of programming language is machine language. [45] Machine language requires the programmer to enter instructions using instruction numbers called machine code. For example, the ADD operation on the PDP-11 has instruction number 24576. [46] The second generation of programming language is assembly language. [45]
The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that translate source code from a high-level programming language to a low-level programming language (e.g. assembly language, object code, or machine code) to create an executable program. [1] [2]: p1 [3] There are many different types of compilers which produce output in different useful forms.
A system programming language is a programming language used for system programming; such languages are designed for writing system software, which usually requires different development approaches when compared with application software. Edsger Dijkstra referred to these languages as machine oriented high order languages, or mohol. [1]