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SIMULA

computer language

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Dahl

  • In Ole-Johan Dahl

    …and Nygaard devised two languages: Simula I, meant for simulations, and Simula 67, a general-purpose language. As the first object-oriented programming languages, Simula I and Simula 67 packaged data and the operations on them so that only the operations are publicly accessible and internal details of the data structures are…

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Nygaard

  • In Kristen Nygaard

    Dahl, the computer programming language SIMULA, which used modules of data, called “objects,” to process data more efficiently than was possible with previous complex software instructions.

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machine language, the numeric codes for the operations that a particular computer can execute directly. The codes are strings of 0s and 1s, or binary digits (“bits”), which are frequently converted both from and to hexadecimal (base 16) for human viewing and modification. Machine language instructions typically use some bits to represent operations, such as addition, and some to represent operands, or perhaps the location of the next instruction. Machine language is difficult to read and write, since it does not resemble conventional mathematical notation or human language, and its codes vary from computer to computer.

Assembly language is one level above machine language. It uses short mnemonic codes for instructions and allows the programmer to introduce names for blocks of memory that hold data. One might thus write “add pay, total” instead of “0110101100101000” for an instruction that adds two numbers.

Assembly language is designed to be easily translated into machine language. Although blocks of data may be referred to by name instead of by their machine addresses, assembly language does not provide more sophisticated means of organizing complex information. Like machine language, assembly language requires detailed knowledge of a particular internal computer architecture. It is useful when such details are important, as in programming a computer to interact with input/output devices (printers, scanners, storage devices, and so forth).

computer chip. computer. Hand holding computer chip. Central processing unit (CPU). history and society, science and technology, microchip, microprocessor motherboard computer Circuit Board
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