low-level language

In computing, a programming language designed for a particular computer and reflecting its internal machine code; low-level languages are therefore often described as machine-oriented languages. They cannot easily be converted to run on a computer with a different central processing unit, and they are relatively difficult to learn because a detailed knowledge of the internal working of the computer is required. Since they must be translated into machine code by an assembler program, low-level languages are also called assembly languages.

A mnemonic-based low-level language replaces binary machine-code instructions, which are very hard to remember, write down, or correct, with short codes chosen to remind the programmer of the instructions they represent. For example, the binary-code instruction that means ‘store the contents of the accumulator’ may be represented with the mnemonic STA.

In contrast, high-level languages are designed to solve particular problems and are therefore described as problem-oriented languages.