Machine language

Intel 8088 machine language. The machine code in hexadecimal is in red, the equivalent in magenta assembly language, and the memory addresses where the code is located, in blue. Below is a text in hexadecimal and ASCII.

The machine language or machine code is the code system that can be directly interpreted by a microprogrammable circuit, such as the microprocessor of a computer or the microcontroller of an automaton. This language is composed of a set of instructions that determine actions to be taken by the machine. A program consists of a chain of these instructions plus a set on which to work. These instructions are normally executed in sequence, with eventual flow changes caused by the program itself or external events. The machine language is specific to the architecture of the machine, although the set of instructions available may be similar between different architectures.

Microprogrammable circuits are digital, which means that they work with only two voltage levels. These levels, by abstraction, are symbolized with the numbers 0 and 1, which is why machine language only uses these signs. This allows the use of the theories of Boolean algebra and the binary system in the design of this type of circuits and in their programming.

Claude Elwood Shannon, in his book Analysis of Relay and Switching Circuits, and with his experiences in switching networks, laid the foundations for the application of Boolean algebra to switching networks. A commutation network is a circuit of electrical switches that, by fulfilling certain Boolean combinations with the input variables, defines the state of the output. This concept is the core of logic gates, which are, for their part, the bricks with which increasingly complex logic systems are built. Shannon used the relay as a physical switching device in his networks, since the relay, like an electric lamp, has two states: activated (on) or (off).

Technological development has allowed us to evolve from networks of electromagnetic relays to circuits with vacuum tubes, then to transistorized networks, until reaching modern integrated circuits, at the top of which are microprogrammed circuits.

The so-called machine code consisted of introducing the programming of the machine by means of ones and zeros. any computer program must eventually be converted to this code in order for a computer to execute the program's instructions.

Computers only read this type of language, where the combination of numbers manages to turn into actions. Given its complexity, there are programming languages such as JavaScript to program web pages or C++ to program video games, among many others.