High- and low-level

High-level and low-level are typically terms used to classify, describe and point to specific goals of a systematic operation, though its uses also vary depending on the context - such as use in computer science versus business administration. In general, high-level is used to describe operations that are more abstract in nature, where overall goals and systemic features are typically more concerned with the wider, macro system as a whole. Alternatively, a low-level description is one that describes more specific individual components of a systematic operation, focusing on the details of rudimentary micro functions rather than macro, complex processes. Low-level classification is typically more concerned with individual components within the system and how they operate.

Differences and similarities

Due to the nature of complex systems, the high-level description will often be completely different from the low level one. For example, there are features to an ant colony that are not features of any individual ant; features of the human mind that are not known to be descriptive of individual neurons in the brain, features of oceans which are not features of any individual water molecule, and features to a human personality that are not features of any cell in a body. The descriptions of these differ depending at what level they are studied. Features which emerge only at a high level of description are known as epiphenomena.

High and Low

High and Low may refer to:

Film and TV

Art and books

Music

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (season 3)

The third season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation premiered on CBS on September 26, 2002 and ended May 15, 2003. The series stars William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger.

Plot

Grissom begins to suffer from hearing loss ("Inside the Box"), as Catherine faces the possibility of losing her daughter ("Lady Heather's Box") during the third season of CSI. Alongside their team, including Sara Sidle, Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes, and Jim Brass, Willows and Grissom investigate the death of a poker player ("Revenge is Best Served Cold"), the evisceration of a cheerleader ("Let the Seller Beware"), a death at a little persons convention ("A Little Murder"), the overdose of a rock-star ("Abra-Cadaver"), a jewelry heist ("Fight Night"), a mob murder ("Blood Lust"), the discovery of a body covered in fire-ants ("Snuff"), and a drive-by shooting ("Random Acts of Violence"). Meanwhile, the team are faced with their own past when they testify in court ("The Accused is Entitled"), Sara struggles to cope with the psychological trauma that she is suffering from being caught up in the explosion ("Play with Fire"), and one of Doc Robbins' autopsies goes awry when the victim wakes up ("Got Murder?").

High and Low (1963 film)

High and Low (天国と地獄, Tengoku to Jigoku, literally "Heaven and Hell") is a 1963 police procedural crime drama film directed by Akira Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai and Kyōko Kagawa. The film is loosely based on King's Ransom (1959), by Ed McBain.

Plot

A wealthy executive named Kingo Gondo (Toshiro Mifune) is in a struggle to gain control of a company called National Shoes. One faction wants the company to make cheap, low quality shoes for the impulse market as opposed to the sturdy but unfashionable shoes currently being produced. Gondo believes that the long-term future of the company will be best served by well made shoes with modern styling, though this plan is unpopular because it means lower profits in the short term. He has secretly set up a leveraged buyout to gain control of the company, mortgaging all he has.

Just as he is about to put his plan into action, he receives a phone call from someone claiming to have kidnapped his son, Jun. Gondo is prepared to pay the ransom, but the call is dismissed as a prank when Jun comes in from playing outside. However, Jun's playmate, Shinichi, the child of Gondo's chauffeur, is missing and the kidnappers have mistakenly abducted him instead.

Low-level programming language

In computer science, a low-level programming language is a programming language that provides little or no abstraction from a computer's instruction set architecture—commands or functions in the language map closely to processor instructions. Generally this refers to either machine code or assembly language. The word "low" refers to the small or nonexistent amount of abstraction between the language and machine language; because of this, low-level languages are sometimes described as being "close to the hardware." Because of the close relationship between the language and the hardware architecture programs written in low-level languages tend to be relatively non-portable.

Low-level languages can convert to machine code without a compiler or interpreter— second-generation programming languages use a simpler processor called an assembler— and the resulting code runs directly on the processor. A program written in a low-level language can be made to run very quickly, with a small memory footprint. An equivalent program in a high-level language can be less efficient and use more memory. Low-level languages are simple, but considered difficult to use, due to numerous technical details that the programmer must remember. By comparison, a high-level programming language isolates execution semantics of a computer architecture from the specification of the program, which simplifies development.