In the previous post, I wrote about the generations of programming languages. In various places, I mentioned about languages being low-level and high-level.
So, what are they?
To keep it short and simple, a language that is more close to the machine is low-level and a language that is more close to the programmer is high-level.
Low-level languages
Low-level languages are easy to understand for a machine but difficult for a programmer. Take machine language for example. Made up of 0s and 1s, it is designed to be executed in physical hardware. Though it is not impossible for a programmer to understand, it is more difficult to be understood. Assembly language is another low-level language but it is a bit more on the programmer side and requires assembler to get converted into machine codes.
High-level languages
High-level languages are easy for a human to understand than a machine. Languages such as Java, C are high-level. Being programmer friendly, they require translator tools like compilers and interpreters to get translated into a low-level language
Low-level vs High-level languages
Now let’s quickly see the differences between both types of languages.
| Low-level languages | High-level languages |
|---|---|
| They are understandable by the machine. | They are understandable by the programmer. |
| Since it is less understandable to a programmer, it is complex to debug. | Being programmer friendly, it is easier to debug. |
| Being close to the machine, they execute faster and efficiently. | Compared to low-level languages, they are slower. |
| The instructions used are specific to the machine. Hence, it is machine dependent. | High-level languages are machine independent. |
| While machine languages do not require a translator tool, assembly languages require assembler. | Certain languages require compilers while others require interpreters. |
Want to learn more? Check out my other related posts below.
- In my post about Von Neumann Architecture, you can find more on execution of machine languages by the processor.
- In Programming Language Generations, I discussed the evolution of programming languages from low-level to high-level through abstraction.
- Find more information about program translator tools (Assembler, Compiler and Interpreter) here.
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