Assembly Language (Low Level Language)

Instruction formed by using 1s and 0s i.e. using binary numbers are hard to remember and it is tedious to program using it. In assembly language the binary bits are replaced by certain keywords which are known as mnemonic. These mnemonics are in fact abbreviated letters which are much easier to remember. In the above example, if 0100000011001100 is instruction used to add two numbers, then ADD would be the easiest mnemonic to remember for it. This language is easier to learn than machine language. An assembler is used to convert assembly language into machine language. It is still faster as compared to high level language but slower than lowest level language (Machine language) due to the requirement of translation.

Working of an Assembler
Figure : Working of an Assembler

Advantages of Assembly Language

Assembly language has following advantages :

  1. Easy to Understand and Use: Assembly language uses mnemonic codes which are easy to use and remember. So, errors which can occur while writing program using assembly language are less as compared to writing program using machine language. Also, assembler provides a way to locate and correct errors.
  2. Speed: Program written in assembly language executes faster than program written high level language.

Disadvantages of Assembly Language

Assembly language has following disadvantages :

  1. Machine Dependent:Program written in assembly language are machine dependent and hence program developed for one system does not execute on other system.
  2. Difficult to Learn :Since assembly language is machine dependent so every type of computer architecture requires a different assembly language. Programmer need to study and understand different mnemonic code according to the architecture used.
  3. Slow Program Development Time: Developing program in assembly language is slow process as compared to high level language.