maskinkode

Maskinkode is the native binary encoding that a computer’s central processing unit can execute directly. It consists of sequences of bits that represent instructions and data, encoded according to the processor’s instruction set architecture (ISA). Because machine code is tied to a specific CPU design, the same high-level program will be compiled into different machine code for different architectures.

In practice, humans rarely write machine code by hand. Assembly language provides symbolic mnemonics for instructions and operands, which a programmer can read and edit. An assembler translates assembly code into machine code. Modern software development typically proceeds from high-level languages through compilers or interpreters to produce machine code or an intermediate form that is later translated for execution.

An instruction in machine code usually combines an opcode with operands such as registers, memory addresses, or immediate values. Data is loaded into registers and then manipulated according to the instruction sequence, with the processor repeatedly performing the fetch-decode-execute cycle. The exact layout of instructions, the size of opcodes and operands, and available addressing modes depend on the ISA. Concepts like endianness (byte order) and memory alignment also affect how machine code is interpreted on a given system.

Historically, machine code was the primary method of programming before assemblers and high-level languages existed. Today, machine code remains the lowest-level form of software that runs on hardware, produced by compilers and linkers and stored in executable formats specific to operating systems and architectures (such as ELF or PE). It is essential for low-level, performance-critical, or embedded programming, and it plays a key role in debugging and reverse engineering.