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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.
Unlike high-level languages, there is a one-to-one correspondence between many simple assembly statements and machine language instructions. However, in some cases, an assembler may provide pseudoinstructions (essentially macros) which expand into several machine language instructions to provide commonly needed functionality. For example, for a ...
Software for early computers was primarily written in assembly language, and before that directly in machine code.It is usually more productive for a programmer to use a high-level language, and programs written in a high-level language can be reused on different kinds of computers.
Machine code was the language of early programs, written in the instruction set of the particular machine, often in binary notation. Assembly languages were soon developed that let the programmer specify instructions in a text format (e.g., ADD X, TOTAL), with abbreviations for each operation code and meaningful names for specifying addresses.
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).
In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the source language) into another language (the target language). 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 ...
The language is specific to a particular processor family and environment. [2] Second-generation languages are sometimes used for parts of kernels or device drivers, and are sometimes used in video games, graphics programs, and other intensive programs. [1] In modern programs, second generation assembly languages are rarely used. [5]