Assembly Language
Assembly Language
A program written in assembly language uses symbolic representation of machine codes needed to program a particular processor (CPU) or processor family. This representation is usually defined by the CPU manufacturer, and is based on abbreviations (called mnemonics) that help the programmer remember individual instructions, registers, etc. Small, English-like representation is used to write the program in assembly language,
Some of the features of a program written in assembly language are as follows:
» Assembly language programs are easier to write than the machine language programs, since assembly language programs use short, English-like representation of machine code.
e.g.
» » ADD 2, 3
» » LOAD A
» » SUB A, B
» The program written in assembly language is the source code, which has to be converted into machine code, also called object code, using translator software, namely, assembler.
» Each line of the assembly language program is converted into one or more lines of machine code. Hence assembly language programs are also machine-dependent.
» Although assembly language programs use symbolic representation, they are still difficult to write.
» Assembly language programs are generally written where the efficiency and the speed of program are the critical issues, i.e. programs requiring high speed and efficiency.