Assembly Language

• The first languages were actually direct machine language, where

programmers had to program it with direct binary numbers of 1’s and 0’s. It
was quite clear to see that this method was incredibly difficult to program,
which allowed the introduction of Assembly languages

• Programmers who use assembly language do so for the following reasons:

o Need to make use of specific hardware or parts of the hardware
o To complete specific machine dependent instructions
o To ensure that too much space is not taken up in RAM
o To ensure code can completed much faster
• Assembly languages allow programmers to program with mnemonics. e.g.
o LDA Load - this will ensure a value is added to the accumulator
o ADD Addition - this will add the value input or loaded from memory to
the value in the accumulator
o STO, Store - stores the value in the accumulator in RAM

• This is used rather than binary code which allowed continuation of working
directly with the hardware but removed an element of complexity
• A mnemonic is received by the computer and it is looked up within a specific
table
• An assembler is needed here to check the word so that it can be converted
into machine code
• If a match from the word is found e.g. STO the word is replaced with the
relevant binary code to match that sequence

Translators
Compilers & Interpreters
• Programmers will write program source code using high-level languages e.g.
Python, Java, C# etc. As programmers, we can understand source code as it
is descriptive, easy to read, maintain and debug. However this is not good for
the hardware as it needs to be converted into binary to allow the hardware to
understand and execute it, this is known as machine code. For this to work it
needs to pass through a translator first. There are two types of translators - a
compiler and an interpreter

Compiler
• This method will translate a program into machine code. Compilers convert
the source code in one go into an executable file ready for distribution. This
method is used mainly when a program is finished with no syntax or logical
errors
 • Compiling may take time to be processed, however, this can be used over
without needing to be recompiled every time, bearing in mind that the program
contains no errors
• Error reports are produced after a program has been translated. Common
errors in code will allow the computer to crash and not respond, it’s important
to be aware that if there are errors the source code must be changed to
compile again

Interpreter
• This is the method that directly sends the source code to the machine code.
This will translate each line of code individually, if an error occurs the program
will stop and an error message will occur. Once the error message is fixed,
the program can carry on running from where the error occurred

ough both translators find errors in code, they do not debug the errors - this is done
by the programmer

Advantages & Disadvantages

Compiler

Advantages Disadvantages

Run quickly as the program as the Due to all code being compiled at the same time there must be
source code has been stored to be enough memory space to handle this, if not and virtual
translated memory is used it can be much slower

Compilers optimise the code, this code

If there are errors in the code the compiler will not identify
will run quicker and take up less
directly where the error lies, making it difficult to debug
memory space

Original source code will not be seen,

which is ideal for programmers to stop It is designed solely for one specific processor
work being copied

If the program is changed it must be recompiled

Interpreter
 Advantages Disadvantages

Each line of code has to be interpreted

Program will always run, it will just stop when it
separately by the CPU, which can lead to
finds a specific syntax error in the code
slower execution
Every time the program is run it has to be
It is easier to debug and understand where
translated, due to no instructions being
particular code has gone wrong
stored
Interpreters do not store instructions and are not
They cannot optimise code, it is translated
stored for later use, this means they require less
and executed as it is
RAM to process the code

CIE IGCSE Computer Science

Revision Notes
IGCSEComputer ScienceCIERevision Notes4. Software4.2 Types of
Programming Language, Translators & IDEsIDE

IDE
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IDE
An integrated development environment (IDE) is software that consolidates basic
tools required to write and test software to make a programmer's journey effective
and useful, this will ensure they have key features to improve programming code and
ensure it does as instructed. Some features are:

• Basic code formatting - changing the font, size of the font, making text bold
etc
• Coloured keywords in source code - e.g. Python code print, input etc turn
purple, if turns orange. This makes it easy to see keywords
• Code Editing - this will allow users to write and manipulate source code, it
includes features such as auto-completion and auto-correction of code,
bracket matching, syntax checks etc
• Commenting code - this allows sections of code to be commented out easily
to stop it from being run or as comments on what the program is doing
• Identifying errors - highlight particular areas of code or provide direct error
messages where the error may have appeared e.g. indentation errors etc
• Run-Time environment - to allow the program to run and see its
corresponding output
• Debugger - this will identify and remedy errors within the source code. This
can provide a step through command also which provides step by step
instructions and shows what is happening to the code line by line. This
method is amazing for catching logical errors
• Libraries - extra modules that are not included in the main programming
language e.g. math in Python for extra mathematical commands
 • Graphical User Interface Builder - will create a graphical design rather than
working with source code
• Translator - which compiles or interprets the code

Exam Tip

• You could be asked to Identify or Describe different features within an

Integrated Development Environment (IDE) this number could range from 2-5