Machine code

When it comes to the world of computer programming, the term "machine code" refers to any low-level programming language that is composed of machine language instructions and is used to operate the central processing unit of a computer (CPU). Each instruction directs the central processing unit (CPU) to carry out a very particular operation, such as a load, a store, a jump, or an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) operation, on one or more units of data that are stored in the CPU's registers or memory. Examples of these operations include load, store, jump, and load-store-jump.

Machine code is a strictly numerical language that is designed to run as quickly as possible. It is also possible to consider machine code to be the lowest-level representation of a computer programme that has been compiled or assembled, as well as a primitive and hardware-dependent programming language. It is feasible to create programmes directly in machine code; but, doing so manually is laborious, and there is a risk of making mistakes. Managing individual bits and manually computing numerical addresses and constants may be avoided. Because of this, writing programmes directly in machine code is something that is done very infrequently in modern contexts. However, it is something that can be done for low level debugging, programme patching (especially in cases where the assembler source is not available), and assembly language disassembly.

The vast majority of useful programmes developed in today's world are crafted using assembly language or higher-level programming languages. With the significant exception of interpreted programmes, the source code is subsequently converted into machine code that may be executed by using tools like as compilers, assemblers, and linkers. However, interpreted programmes do not have their source code converted into machine code. However, the interpreter itself, which may be seen as an executor or processor processing the commands of the source code, often consists of directly executable machine code (generated from assembly or high-level language source code).

Machine code is the lowest level of programming information that is visible to the programmer, yet inside, many processors employ microcode or optimise and convert machine code instructions into sequences of micro-ops. By definition, machine code is the lowest level of programming detail. This is not something that is often thought of as machine code.