Low-level or low-level programming languages traditionally appeared first and later became the basis for the development of the entire IT industry. They are so called because in their commands they address in fact directly to the hardware of the computer, its microprocessor. Each processor is able to perceive a specific set of commands that only it understands, so for each model of a few devices in the distant past their own languages were created. Initially these languages had a minimal set of commands, and in contrast to the high-level ones did not have so many abstract classes, a variety of syntax.
All existing programming languages are usually divided into two large groups: low-level and high-level. Nowadays, most of the languages in use belong to the second category, but it was not always so. If we look at the history of programming as close as possible to its origins, the picture there was just the opposite.
Low-level programming languages, or having their capabilities, are actively used even now. For only thanks to them it is possible to write drivers for computer hardware, connected peripherals, to create operating systems and kernels of firmware, as well as many other important tasks. In the military, engineering, medicine, programs need to control directly certain devices and their physical parameters, which is why languages are also very much in demand. The list of low-level languages used today is not so long, but nevertheless, they are still relevant and able to solve important problems.
Some representatives of low-level languages
Originally, the first low-level programming language was considered to be the so-called machine code. It looked like a set of consecutive commands, which were passed to the processor as zeros and ones. Zero was the absence of an electrical signal on the device, and one was a certain pulse applied to it. In this way, a sequence of signals made the processor solve the tasks assigned to it.
The first such codes were able to make the computer perform elementary simple operations, which included arithmetic operations, transfer between registers the simplest information, compare two or more different codes and the like. Later machine languages learned to solve complex problems, that is, those that consist of a set of elementary commands. Depending on the architecture of the processor, it can perform a different number of commands and at different speeds. To make machine codes work properly on several members of the same processor family, they began to be broken down into microprograms. List of languages of computer code is hardly possible to make, because each processor and computer of his time created its own language.
The Assembler
The so called assembly languages came next after the machine codes. The main difference is that the set of possible commands is much wider, and it doesn’t have to strictly follow the commands of a given computer. This opened up a lot of new possibilities. The main advantages of Assembler compared to machine code are:
The ability to create the most compact code, which increases the speed of the machine;
The ability to store part of the execution of the task in RAM and use it at will;
Programs have gained more functionality, while their resource-intensiveness has become significantly lower.
And these are just some of the strengths that Assembler offers. Examples of code from this family of languages are still often used for educational purposes and give a better understanding of how to work with microprocessors.
Forth
A low level language from around the 70’s. Had its own significant advantages, which made it quite popular in certain circles of specialists. Machine programming languages had already begun to become a thing of the past by this time, so the functionality of Forth appealed to many. With its help, programmers who knew the architecture of the processor could write a kernel to the device in a matter of days. It is hard to say which programming paradigm is supported here. If the language is used by an experienced programmer, the most original ideas can be realized here.
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One of the most famous and most used programming languages, which started its existence in the 70’s and is still on the scene today. Its structure was quite close to machine languages and assembler, so it began to be actively used for creating operating systems, drivers, system software. C is often considered a high-level language, but it is not so straightforward, because it also fully coincides with the definition of low-level languages, so it can be included in this category. The question of which programming language is a low-level language is not that simple, and you need to look at the functionality and purpose of the language, rather than its official definition.