Editing Assembly language (section)

===Typical applications===
* Assembly language is typically used in a system's [[booting|boot]] code, the low-level code that initializes and tests the system hardware prior to booting the operating system and is often stored in [[read-only memory|ROM]]. ([[BIOS]] on [[IBM-compatible PC]] systems and [[CP/M]] is an example.)
* Assembly language is often used for low-level code, for instance for [[operating system kernel]]s, which cannot rely on the availability of pre-existing system calls and must indeed implement them for the particular processor architecture on which the system will be running.
* Some compilers translate high-level languages into assembly first before fully compiling, allowing the assembly code to be viewed for [[debugging]] and optimization purposes.
* Some compilers for relatively low-level languages, such as [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]] or [[C (programming language)|C]], allow the programmer to embed assembly language directly in the source code (so called [[inline assembly]]). Programs using such facilities can then construct abstractions using different assembly language on each hardware platform. The system's [[software portability|portable code]] can then use these processor-specific components through a uniform interface.
* Assembly language is useful in [[reverse engineering]]. Many programs are distributed only in machine code form which is straightforward to translate into assembly language by a [[disassembler]], but more difficult to translate into a higher-level language through a [[decompiler]]. Tools such as the [[Interactive Disassembler]] make extensive use of disassembly for such a purpose. This technique is used by hackers to crack commercial software, and competitors to produce software with similar results from competing companies.
* Assembly language is used to enhance speed of execution, especially in early personal computers with limited processing power and RAM.
* Assemblers can be used to generate blocks of data, with no high-level language overhead, from formatted and commented source code, to be used by other code.<ref name="Paul_2001_NECPINW"/><ref name="Paul_2002_CPI"/>