assembly language

American  

noun

Computers.

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

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assembly language British  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of assembly language

First recorded in 1960–65

Example Sentences

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

One well-distributed program Samson wrote went on for hundreds of assembly language instructions, with only one comment beside an instruction which contained the number 1750.

From Hackers, Heroes of the Computer Revolution Chapters 1 and 2 by Levy, Steven