A low-level language is a type of programming language that provides little or no abstraction from a computers instruction set architecture. Low-level languages are often described as being "close to the hardware" because of the low level of abstraction between the language and machine language. They are used to write programs that can run directly on computer hardware without the need for translation or interpretation.
Low-level languages can be divided into two categories: machine code and assembly language. Machine code is the lowest level of computer language and consists of binary code that can be executed directly by the CPU. Assembly language is a text translation of the binary code that the CPU understands and is as close as possible to what the CPU can execute.
Programs written in low-level languages tend to be relatively non-portable, due to being optimized for a certain type of system architecture. They can be made to run very quickly, with a small memory footprint, but are considered difficult to use due to numerous technical details that the programmer must remember.
In modern times, low-level programming is any language in which the developer handles memory management. Any language where that memory management or garbage collection is done for the developer is considered "high level". The definition of low-level has changed quite a bit since the inception of computer science, and today, C is considered a low-level language because the developer has to manage their own application memory.
In summary, a low-level language is a programming language that provides little or no abstraction from a computers instruction set architecture and is used to write programs that can run directly on computer hardware without the need for translation or interpretation.
