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3. Assembly language

Programming in machine code is very difficult because it just looks like a set of numbers making it hard for a human to read and understand.

To make things easier for programmers, the chip makers provide an 'Assembly Language' for their CPU which means that programming code can be written in a readable form. For example:

Machine Code (in hexadecimal) Assembly Language
04D3 ADD #3

The command ADD #3 tells the CPU to add 3 to the current value in the accumulator. This is clearly easier to understand compared to '04D3'.

Assembly is a 'low level' language.

Each command in assembly language is called a 'mnemonic'.

A mnemonic usually has a direct equivalent in machine code, so assembler is very close to the hardware detail within the CPU such as specific register names and memory management modes.

 

Challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you

Click on this link: What is Assembly Language