Assembly and Assembler

Question

I was taught that the "assembly" is what you write in your files so that your "assembler" will convert it to binary code.

But I see that these two expressions are mixed and juxtaposed in different works. I even heard that you write "assembler", after which the "assembler" makes it executable.

Please tell me which words to use?

Answer 1

Actually, the language is called "Assembler Language", and the tool for converting it into machine code is "Assembler".

Additional information on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_language

Answer 2

The purpose of the language is to communicate.

If people say something, and other people understand them, they use the right terms.

We have rules to make it easier to understand, but, in my opinion, if you say what is best for you, and let other people say that it is best for them, and you all understand what you all mean, then everything will be peachy.

For what it's worth, I prefer to write "assembly" and assemble it using "assembler". I think the “collector” should someday be the word of the day, and everyone should try to use it as often as possible.

Answer 3

An assembly is a piece of code / executable that resides on an executable computer. It could be obj, exe, dll, ... This is the result of compilation.

Assembler is a "compiler" that compiles code into machine executable code. This code is written in assembly language . Assembly language in common English is often called assembly language.

Assembler seems to be a creative word born out of the need to reduce confusion caused by omitting other terms or terms in a foreign language (see other answers).

Answer 4

It could be a (human) language problem - the Swedish word for "assembler" is like " assemblator " ...

See also: http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assemblator

Answer 5

I honestly don’t know if there is a “standard” terminology that distinguishes all these concepts accordingly. (Example: if I say "ASM", what am I talking about?)

I can give you my definitions if this helps anyone.

Machine code

This is the compiled output of an assembler or compiler.

Assembly

This is a human readable form of machine code. (Or machine code, as we know it.)

I sometimes use the term assembly instead of machine code because it implies that I am not going to actually read the machine code, but rather the assembly.

Assembly language

This applies to a specific machine code language, such as the x86 assembly.

Assembler

This is a tool like MASM \ FASM, used to compile source code into machine code.

Assembly language

This is the language used by any assembler.

I see this as different from assembly language, because assemblers can add their own syntactic sugar, which is not in the base assembly language. (High-level functions, macros, etc.).

Answer 6

I suggest that the origin of these terms goes back to the classic definition of the assembly dictionary: “assembly of machine instructions to achieve a goal,” which probably refers to how the pioneers computed a small group of machine instructions. Then the "assembler" is a device that accepts separate machine instructions, combines them into an "assembly".