Low-level programming language

Low-level programming languages, in comparison to high-level programming languages, interact with the underlying hardware more directly, but provide fewer abstractions than high-level programming languages.

Features of low-level programming languages

• More control over hardware
• Generally more difficult to use than high-level programming languages
• Generally more performant
• Fewer abstractions than high-level programming languages
• Usually compiled languages - they are compiled using a compiler into machine code, so the executable file produced is often non-portable (can only be run on one OS and architecture).

Examples of low-level programming languages

The only true low-level languages would be:

• Machine code
• Assembly

That said, some high-level programming languages such as the ones below are sometimes considered low-level as they can directly manage the system's memory:

• C
• C++
• Rust
• Zig