Machine Language

Advantage: The only advantage is that program of machine language run very fast because no translation is required for the CPU. Disadvantages: 1. It is very difficult to program in machine language as the programmer has to know the details of the hardware.(i.e processor speed, memory space, etc.) 2. Machine Language is hardware dependent.(i.e a program written in 64bit may not run in 32bit.) 3. The programmer has to remember a lot of codes to write a program, which results in program error.(i.e instead of writing A=10010111 he might write A=10010011.) 4. It is difficult to debug a program. (Debug is to find the faults in a program and correct them.)

Assembly Language:
o 1st step to improve the programming structure is to use Assembly Language. o 1s & 0s are replaced by mnemonic codes to improve their understanding. o This language uses a translator program (called Assembler) to translate the programs written in assembly language to machine language. o It is considered to be 2nd generation language.

Advantages: 1. The symbolic programming of Assembly Language is easier to understand and saves a lot of time and effort of the programmer. 2. Easy to correct errors (debug) and modify program instructions. 3. Assembly Language has almost the same efficiency of execution as the machine level language. Disadvantage: Major disadvantage Machine dependent (i.e a program written for one computer might not run on other computers with different hardware configuration.) High Level Language: To overcome the limitations of assembly language and machine language, which require extensive knowledge of computer hardware, we write the instructions in English like sentences. It is irrespective of the type of computer you are using. It is a simple language that use English & Mathematical symbols which is then converted into machine level language. Advantages: High Level Languages are easy to learn and use. Because they are similar to the languages used by us in day-today life. The programs can be easily debugged and are machine independent.

Translators
Higher Level Language

Machine Instructions Machine Instructions Machine Instructions

Regardless of what high level language one uses, we eventually need to convert the program into machine language so that the computer can understand it. This conversion from High level program to Machine Language is done by a special system software program (TRANSLATOR). There are 2 ways to do this: compile the program using a compiler or interpret the program using an interpreter. Compiler: It is a program that translates the instructions of higher-level languages to machine language. It is a program translator like assembler but more sophisticated, it scans entire program first and then translates it into machine code. The program written in high-level language is called Source program. The program to be converted to machine language by the compiler is called Object program. A compiler can translate only those source program, which have been written