High and Low level languages

Question 1

Assembly lanuage

Answer 1

low-level language
closely reflects how opcodes and operands work

machine dependent

instructions use abbreviations called mnemonics

Question 2

High level language

Answer 2

Written in a form that is close to human language

No knowledge of hardware/architecture required

machine independent

Question 3

Low level language

Answer 3

Written in a form that is close to the processor instruction set

Knowledge of hardware/architecture is required

machine dependent

Question 4

8 advantages of high level language

Answer 4

1. easier to understand for programmers(closer to human language)
2. portable
3. no need to have understanding of computer architecture
4. Much easier to debug and test
5. Only need to learn a single language
6. Has built in libraries and functions that can be reused(saves writing time)
7. One instruction equals many processor instructions
8. don’t need to manipulate memory addresses directly- no specialist knowledge

Question 5

Translators

Answer 5

Assembler
Compiler
Interpreter

Question 6

Assembler

Answer 6

1. converts assembly language to machine code all at once
2. produces an executable file
3. produces an error report
4. optimises source code to run efficiently

Question 7

Machine code

Answer 7

binary instructions
executed by CPU
machine specific
doesn’t need to be translated

Question 8

4 advantages of low level language

Answer 8

1. Program often requires less memory/RAM
2. Can make use of special hardware
3. Can use memory addresses directly
4. Can be written to run and execute faster (optimised speed of processing a program)

Question 9

Interpreter

Answer 9

Translates high-level language into machine code
Translates (the source code) line by line/statement by statement
The interpreter is used each time the code is executed
Stops if it finds an error and will only continue when error is fixed

Question 10

Compiler

Answer 10

Translates high-level language into machine code (object code)
Translates (the source code) all at once
Produces an executable file
Produces an error report / list of errors
Optimises the source code (to run efficiently)

Question 11

interpreter advantages

Answer 11

faster for developing software and debugging
all of the code doesn’t need to be translated
easier to debug

Question 12

compiler advantages

Answer 12

program can be executed without translator
faster execution(all at once)
provides an executable file so you cannot see the code