Editing Low-level programming language (section)

== Machine code ==
[[File:Digital pdp8-e2.jpg|thumb|Front panel of a PDP-8/E minicomputer. The row of switches at the bottom can be used to toggle in a machine language program.]]
{{Main|Machine code}}
''Machine code'' is the form in which code that can be directly executed is stored on a computer. It consists of machine language [[instruction set architecture|instructions]], stored in memory, that perform operations such as moving values in and out of memory locations, arithmetic and Boolean logic, and testing values and, based on the test, either executing the next instruction in memory or executing an instruction at another location.

Machine code is usually stored in memory as [[Binary code|binary]] data. Programmers almost never write programs directly in machine code; instead, they write code in [[assembly language]] or higher-level programming languages.<ref name=":0" />

Although few programs are written in machine languages, programmers often become adept at reading it through working with [[core dump]]s or debugging from the front panel.

Example of a function in hexadecimal representation of [[x86-64]] machine code to calculate the ''n''th [[Fibonacci number]], with each line corresponding to one instruction:
 89 f8
 85 ff
 74 26
 83 ff 02
 76 1c
 89 f9
 ba 01 00 00 00
 be 01 00 00 00
 8d 04 16
 83 f9 02
 74 0d
 89 d6
 ff c9
 89 c2
 eb f0
 b8 01 00 00
 c3