In computer science, a low-level programming language is a language that provides little or no abstraction from a computer's microprocessor. It does not imply that the language ranks lower in any sense than a high-level language.
Low-level programming languages fall into two categories: first generation, and second generation.
The first-generation programming language, or 1GL, is machine code. It is the only language a microprocessor can understand natively. Machine code cannot be written or read using a text editor, and therefore it is rarely used by a person directly.
The second-generation programming language, or 2GL, is Assembly Language. It is considered a second-generation language because while it is not a microprocessor's native language, an assembly language programmer must still understand the microprocessor's unique architecture (such as its registers and instructions).
Definition
First-Generation
Second-Generation
See also: