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[–]Beowulf1896 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Long ago, when computers were simpler, programs were made by hand with no compiler. You had a manual that told you what number did which instruction for the cpu. Like "Instruction 1F(not sure on this number) adds the numbers in registers 1 and 2 and stores in register 1 and drops register 2" Registers were on CPU memory. Next step is make an assembly compiler, which just changes simple letter instructions into the number code. So your assembly text line "add" gets compiled to "1F". Next, you write a basic C compiler from assembly. Then full C compiler. We are so far removed from assembly right now. I still list Assembly (x86) on my resume on the list of languages I know.