assembly language

American

noun

Computers.

a programming language most of whose expressions are symbolic equivalents of the machine-language instructions of a particular computer.

assembly language British

noun

computing a low-level programming language that allows a programmer complete control of the machine code to be generated

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of assembly language

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Its fragmented internal architecture was built around Sega’s cutting-edge arcade machine technology, but developers needed expert knowledge of assembly language to wrestle anything out of it.

From The Guardian • Jul. 16, 2020

I learned to code when you could use a hole-punch, scissors and manila file folder to hack assembly language on an IBM 360.

From New York Times • Nov. 8, 2017

It was designed and written from scratch in assembly language, a level just barely above the 1’s and 0’s of the computer’s native tongue.

From Slate • May 11, 2015

Even into the 1970s it was common, even normal, to program in assembly language.

From Newsweek • Mar. 21, 2015

Traditionally demos were written in assembly language, with lots of smart tricks, self-modifying code, undocumented op-codes and the like.

From The Jargon File, Version 4.2.2, 20 Aug 2000 by Steele, Guy L.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023