Assembler

Assembler — a type of computer software to translates the assembly language instructions and then gives a series of instructions in bit form in computer processors all throughout. Assemblers act as an interface between the language understood by the processors and the computer memory, and the assembly language which programmers use.

There are two general classifications of assemblers, that is, one-pass and multi-pass assemblers in view of the number of passes the source code is translated through to machine language. The flavors of use are called Single-pass and Multipass assemblers. After that, the assembler translates source code to object code and writes this in a file in sequence as bits for the processor. Some assemblers also contain OOP features over programming code rather than just code translation.

An assembler is a program that translates assembly language which is a low level and easy to read form of programming to machine code that is executable by the processor of the computer. Assemblers are the components that connect two levels of language: the high-level assembly language that is easy to read and write for a programmer and the low-level binary code that is immediately understandable for the computer’s hardware. It is important especially for the execution of the programs written in assembly language which makes it possible to execute them on the intended hardware.

Assemblers are generally categorized into two types: The two types of assemblers that are available are the single-pass and the multi-pass assemblers. A one pass assembler takes the source code and in a single pass converts it to machine code where each line of the code is assembly language. This method is faster but can be somewhat rigid particularly in handling commands that are more complicated or when forward references are called for. On the other hand, a multi-pass assembler goes through the source code several times in order to allow the use of more advanced techniques of code translation, including the processing of forward references and the optimization of the code. The output of the assembler is an object code file that contains a binary code that is written in a series of bits to be processed by the processor.

Some of the contemporary assemblers include OOP features in their repertoire to help the programmers to better organize and control their code. These new assemblers extend the basic translation capabilities to include code organization, code organization and code sharing features which enhance the use of assembly language programming. The advancement in the design of assemblers has therefore extended their application in other areas of programming and not limited to the conventional low level programming.