Comp Sci - paper 2

Comp Sci - paper 2

1. What is a high level language?

   • High-level languages are considered high-level because they are closer to human languages and further from machine languages.
   • some examples include BASIC, FORTRAN, Java, C++ and Pascal.

2. What is a low-level language?

   • A low-level language is a programming language that deals with a computer's hardware components and constraints. It has no (or only a minute level of) abstraction in reference to a computer and works to manage a computer's operational semantics. A low-level language may also be referred to as a computer’s native language.
   • Two good examples of low-level languages are assembly and machine code.
   • MINI HIGH/LOW LEVEL LANGUAGE MIND MAP
     • Programming Languages

3. Why are most computer programs written in high level language?

   • High-level languages are easier to use as they are not just a sequence of 1's and 0's and therefore are far more easier to understand as they use the English language.

4. Explain the main difference between low and high level languages?

   • Low level language is machine readable form of program. Whereas the high level language will be in human readable form.. .
   • Low level language are difficult to write and compile but high level languages are easy to write as well as compile.
   • Low level language are compact and require less memory space.High level language uses compilers and interpreters which requires large memory space.
   • In high level language debugging ( troubleshooting) .I.e. Finding and correcting errors are easier whereas debugging in the low level language is quite difficult.
   • low level language coding and compiling is time consuming process whereas high level language coding and compiling is much easy and takes veryless time to compile.

5. What are the differences between machine code and assembly language?

   • The main difference between machine code and assembly language is that the machine code is a language that consists of binaries that can be directly executed by a computer while an assembly language is a low-level programming language that requires a software called an assembler to convert it into machine code.
   • All programming code written in high-level language or assembly language must be translated into machine code with a compiler or interpreter.
   • Machine code is expressed in assembly language and is specific to a processor or family of processors.

6. What do all processors have in common?

   • Every processor has one or more independent processing units called cores, which read and execute program instructions.

7. What is a compiler?

   • A compiler is a complex translation as a single instruction can result in many machine code instructions.
   • The code written by the programmer is called 'source code'.
   • The machine code produced by the compiler is called the 'object code'.
   • When purchasing commercial software, you're buying the object code and you don't need a compiler to run the software.

8. What is an interpreter?

   • It executes the program directly.
   • Can only process one instruction at a time, so with a slow computer it's going to be even slower.
   • Must have it installed to run the software
   • With small coding this can be efficient though because it is so slow and reads each line at a time so it will spot out mistakes so it won't make mistakes.

9. What is an assembler?

   • An assembler is a program that converts assembly language into machine code
   • It takes the basic commands and operations from assembly code and converts them into binary code that can be recognized by a specific type of processor.
   • They produce executable code.
   • TRANSLATORS FLASH CARDS
     • Translators: Compilers, Interpreters and Assemblers