Low-level Programming

Abstract

It is apparent that there is a gap between the capabilities of the hardware of a computer and the specification of a problem, even when formalised as a program coded in a high-level language. This gap is bridged by a translation process which produces binary code (bit patterns) intelligible to the hardware from high-level code. This translation process forms a major topic of chapter 10. In this chapter we study how a program can be written in a form which relates directly to the hardware. In the course of this study we shall see that it is possible to write code in a language that allows easy conversion to binary code. This style of programming is called low level, as it is close to the operational level of the hardware.