Eli5: how does assembly code work?
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A computer is a machine that only knows how to follow a list of basic instructions.
It can read values from memory, do basic math on them, and store the results. It can also compare two values and jump to a different place in the instruction list based on the result.
The computer uses numbers to represent these instructions. So for example, 1 means load and 2 means add, etc. A computer program is stored as a list of numbers.
Assembly language is just a simple translation of these numeric instructions into readable words like MOVE and ADD. When you write assembly, you are writing directly in the basic instructions the CPU understands, but with codewords instead of numbers.
On the other hand, high level programming languages let you write English like instructions for advanced operations, like printing to the screen or connecting to another computer. The compiler or interpreter does the job of translating these into the sequence of assembly code that the computer can actually follow.
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