Programming languages are basically classified into two main types – Low Level and High Level.
What is a Low-Level language?
Low-level languages are those languages that are closest to machines, which means machines can easily understand low-level languages as compared to human beings.
Types of Low-level language:
- Machine Language.
- Assembly Language.
Machine Language or machine code is consists of binary digits (zeros and ones) that understood by a computer.
But there is nothing like 0 and 1 in a computer, means there is no physical significance of 0 and 1. These are two states. Basically, we store any information in two states in a computer, and for identification we call one as 1 and the another 0.
Assembly language is another low-level programming language, but a computer cannot understand the assembly language, computers only understand the Machine language (0s, and 1s).
How to run Assembly language in a computer?
However it is a low-level language, but you can not run Assembly language on a computer directly. You have to translate it to machine code through the Assembler.
Its (Assembly language) code format is close to machines, that’s why it is called low-level language.
Machine VS Assembly Language
| Machine | Assembly |
|---|---|
| Computers only understand the Machine language. But it is very difficult to understand by human beings. | Assembly language is only understood by humans. It is easier to write and maintain than the machine language. |
| The machine code is directly executed by the computer. | The assembler is used to convert the assembly code into machine code. |
| Execution is fast because all the data is already present in binary format. | Assembly language is only understood by humans. It is easier to write and maintain than machine language. |
What are High-Level Languages?
High-level languages are the opposite of low-level languages, which means high-level languages can easily understand by human beings. Python, Java, C/C++ are popular examples of high-level languages.
The high-level type languages are meant for humans so that human beings can easily learn them to build computer programs.
These languages cannot be understood by a machine. You can run your program on a computer after converting your program into the machine or binary code through the translator (compiler).
High-Level VS Low-Level Languages
| High-Level | Low-Level |
|---|---|
| It is a programmer-friendly language (Easy to learn or understand). | It is a machine-friendly language. |
| It is easy to maintain and debug. | It is hard to maintain and debug. |
| It consumes more memory in comparison to low-level languages. | It consumes less memory. |
| It can run on all the platforms. | It is machine-dependent. |
