Editing High Level Assembly (section)

== High vs. low-level assembler ==

HLA v2.x supports the same low-level machine instructions as a regular low-level assembler. High-end assemblers also support high-level-language-like statements (such as IF and WHILE) and more advanced data declaration directives, including [[Data structure|structures]]-[[Record (computer science)|records]], unions, and even [[Class (computer programming)|classes]].

Examples of high-end assemblers include HLA, [[Microsoft Macro Assembler]] (MASM), and [[Turbo Assembler]] (TASM) on the Intel [[x86]] processor family.

Unlike most other assembler tools, the HLA compiler includes a ''Standard Library'' with thousands of [[Subroutine|functions, procedures]]s and [[Macro (computer science)|macros]]s that can be used to create full applications with the ease of a high-level language. While assembly language [[Library (computing)|libraries]] are not new, a language that includes a large standardized library encourages programmers to use library code rather than writing their own functions.

HLA supports all the same low-level machine instructions as other x86 assemblers. Furthermore, HLA's high-level control structures are based on those found in MASM and TASM, whose HLL-like features predated HLA by several years. In HLA, low-level assembly code can be written just as easily as with any other assembler by ignoring the HLL control constructs. Unlike HLLs like Pascal and C(++), HLA does not require inline asm statements. HLA's HLL-like features provide a learning aid for beginning assembly programmers by easing the learning curve, with the expectation that they will discontinue using those statements once they master the low-level instruction set. In practice, many experienced programmers continue to use HLL-like statements in HLA, MASM, and TASM long after mastering the low-level instruction set, typically to improve readability.

It is also possible to write ''high-level'' programs using HLA, which reduces the tedium of low-level assembly language programming. Some assembly language programmers reject HLA outright{{Citation needed|date=October 2022|reason=Unclear scope and reasoning - maybe quote one of these programmers explaining their motive for rejecting HLA}} because it allows programmers to do this. However, supporting both high-level and low-level programming gives any language a broader range of applicability.