Programming Languages

Programming Languages

1. Low-Level

   • Assembly language
     • Small amounts of abstraction between the code and the code recognised by the processor
     • Uses mnemonic codes for instructions and allows the use of names for blocks of memory
     • Designed to be easily read by processor
     • Like machine language, assembly language requires detailed knowledge of a particular internal computer architecture.
   • Processor understands commands directly
     • Therefore no compiler, interpreter or translator needed
   • Machine Code
     • Machine code or machine language is a system of instructions and data executed directly by a computer’s CPU.
     • lowest-level programming language
     • Instructions in binary
       • A collection of bits that the computer reads and interprets
     • Native language of a processor or computer

2. High-Level

   • Much closer to human language
     • Require interpreter, compiler or translator.
   • Advantages
     • Debugging easier
     • Techniques applicable everywhere
     • Simplify complex programming
     • Fewer errors made
     • Smaller amounts of code
     • easier to read,write and maintain

3. Conversion

   • Translators are just computer programs which accept a program written in high-level or low-level language and produce an equivalent machine level program as output.
   • A translator is a computer program that translates one programming language instruction into another programming language instruction.
   • A computer source code is to be translated into a low-level programming language where native code compilers change it to machine language for execution.
   • Three different translators: Assembler, Compiler and interpreter