Arizona State University (ASU) CSE100 Principles of Programming with C++ Midterm 1 Practice Exam

Machine language consists of binary-coded instructions, which are the most fundamental programming instructions that a computer's CPU can directly execute. These instructions are expressed in a format that the machine can understand, typically represented as a sequence of ones and zeros (binary). Each machine language instruction is specific to a particular computer architecture, allowing the processor to perform operations such as arithmetic, logic, data transfer, and control flow.

The reason binary-coded instructions are the only correct answer relates to the fact that all programs must ultimately be translated down to machine language for execution on hardware. Human-readable instructions, assembly code, and high-level programming syntax are all forms of abstraction that must be converted into machine language through compilation or interpretation before they can be executed by the computer. This distinction highlights the critical role of machine language as the lowest level of code that directly interacts with the hardware.