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Low-Level Languages

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13 views1 page

Low-Level Languages

Uploaded by

hanielangwi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Low-level languages

Low-level languages
sit close to the computer's
instruction set
. An instruction set is the set of
instructions
that the
processor
understands.

Two types of low-level language are:

machine code

assembly language
Machine code
An instruction set relates to a specific processor and is written in machine code.
The central processing unit (CPU) understands machine code directly and can act
upon the instructions. A
program
written in machine code consists of 0s and 1s only. Machine code is very difficult
to learn, write and
debug
. Even a very simple program could have thousands of 0s and 1s in it.

Assembly language
Assembly language sits between machine code and
high-level languages
in terms of ease of use. While high-level languages use
statements
to form instructions, assembly language uses
mnemonics
(short abbreviations). Each mnemonic directly corresponds with a single machine
code instruction. Here are some examples of mnemonics:

Mnemonic Action
LDA Loads a value from a memory address
STA Stores a value in a memory address
ADD Adds the value held in a memory address to the value held in the accumulator
SUB Subtracts from the accumulator the value held in a memory address
MOV Moves the contents of one memory address to another

In assembly language, programmers write programs as a series of mnemonics.


Mnemonics are much easier to understand and debug than machine code, giving
programmers a simpler way of directly controlling a computer.

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