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# System prepended metadata

title: ASM language level comparison

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---
title: ASM language level comparison 
description: 1.1.2 Assembly Language Table 1-1
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| Type of Application                                                                                | High-Level Languages                                                                                                                                       | Assembly Language                                                                                                                                            |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Commercial or scientific application, written for single platform, medium to large size.           | Formal structures make it easy to organize and maintain large sections of code.                                                                            | Minimal formal structure, so one must be imposed by programmers who have varying levels of experience. This leads to difficulties maintaining existing code. |
| Hardware device driver.                                                                            | The language may not provide for direct hardware access. Even if it does, awkward coding techniques may be required, resulting in maintenance difficulties |                                                                                                                                                              |
| Commercial or scientific application written for multiple platforms (different operating systems). | Usually portable. Th source code an be recompiled on each target operating system with minimal changes.                                                    |                                                                                                                                                              |
| Embedded systems and computer games requiring direct hardware access.                              | May produce large executable files that exceed the memory capacity of the device.                                                                          |                                                                                                                                                              |
