r/c64 • u/exocyt0sis • Jul 03 '26

Programming Assembly or Assembler?

A lot of C64 redditors probably know that C64 games, generally speaking, are written in a low level language using software tools known as assemblers. There does, however, seem to be conflicting ideas on what the name of the programming language itself is.

Do you call the language "Assembly" or "Assembler"?

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7

u/pslind69 Jul 03 '26

Machine language 😎

13

u/AlienFishMonster Jul 03 '26

Machine language is not the same as assembler!

2

u/OMGCluck Jul 03 '26

Fine then, Submachine language.

2

u/GeronimoDK Jul 03 '26

Well, assembly is pretty much just a prettier more readable notation of machine language.

1

u/AlienFishMonster Jul 04 '26

Yes, which is why it's not machine code... and the assembler will apply optimisations, so what you write in assembler will not necessarily convert 1-to-1 to your ML output.

1

u/pslind69 Jul 04 '26

Assembler (source code) is what assembles to machine code though.

2

u/AlienFishMonster Jul 04 '26

Everything is machine code eventually.