

Many compilers (including Free Pascal) allow the programmer to embed Assembler sections within the high-level source code such sections are, of course, only useful using the processor for which they are intended, whereas a Compiler can write programs which will work on a variety of different processors.Īpplication Program Interface: a set of tools such as procedural/functional calls to allow programmers to use a software package.Īn example is the API for the MySQL database system its authors have published a set of definitions for procedure/function calls, with detailed specifications for each of the parameters or arguments for each function. Assembly language is the list of codified instructions that a programmer writes, which the assembler translates into machine code.Īn assembler differs from a Compiler by being processor-specific ( i.e., different assemblers for i386, MC68000, ARM processors, etc.) and by being much more low-level: it deals with very specific instructions to move data and perform detailed arithmetic. Into a binary sequence such as 01110010 which the machine can execute. LD a,b # move the contents of location a into location b military were actually written in Ada.Īn assembler converts human-readable symbols (that represent machine instructions) into the actual binary instructions that the computer executes.

Department of Defense decreed that all programming by its contractors must be done using Ada, but unfortunately there was a dearth of suitable compilers and software development tools, and the language never achieved popularity. (There was no romantic involvement with Babbage.)Īda is a high-level procedural language, with very similar structure and syntax to Pascal, but with several extensions. Ada King, Countess of Lovelace and daughter of the poet Lord Byron, was a student/colleague of Babbage and wrote a program to drive the difference engine she can be regarded as the first computer programmer. Babbage (1791–1871), an Englishman, was one of the earliest exponents of computer design and published a design for a "difference engine" (which he never actually built). # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZĬomputer language derived from Pascal and Modula, and named after Charles Babbage's lady friend.

Note that the buildfaq also has a FPC/Lazarus glossary You are encouraged to continue adding things to it that .
