What is an assembly language?

An assembly language is a low-level programming language that is one step above machine language. It uses human-readable mnemonics to represent the basic instructions that a CPU can execute, making it easier for programmers to write and understand code compared to binary machine language. Each assembly language instruction corresponds directly to a machine language instruction.

Key features of assembly language include:

1. Mnemonics: Short, human-readable codes that represent machine language instructions (e.g., MOV for move, ADD for addition).
2. Registers: Named placeholders for data storage within the CPU.
3. Labels: Used to mark locations in code for branching and looping.
4. Direct Hardware Manipulation: Allows programmers to write instructions that interact directly with the hardware.

Assembly language is specific to a particular CPU architecture, meaning that assembly code written for one type of CPU will not work on another without modification. It is used in scenarios where performance and direct hardware control are critical, such as in embedded systems and low-level system software.