Question

Which of the following language does the computer understand?

• A. Computer understands only C Language
• B. Computer understands only Assembly Language
• C. Computer understands only Binary Language
• D. Computer understands only BASIC

Hint:

Remember the hierarchy of languages:
- Binary (Machine) Language: Directly understood by hardware.
- Assembly Language: Needs an assembler to convert to binary.
- High-Level Language (C, Java, Python): Needs a compiler or interpreter to convert to binary.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Computers are electronic devices composed of millions of transistors acting as switches.
These electronic switches can only exist in one of two physical states: ON (conducting electricity) or OFF (not conducting electricity).

Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
Because of this underlying hardware architecture, a computer's central processing unit (CPU) can only process and execute instructions written in a language that corresponds to these two states:
- Binary Language (Machine Language): This language uses binary digits, or bits: ‘1‘ (representing ON) and ‘0‘ (representing OFF).
Instructions and data must be represented in binary format to be understood and executed directly by the CPU.
- High-Level Languages (Options A and D): Languages like C and BASIC are designed to be human-readable.
The computer cannot understand them directly. They must be translated into binary machine code by software called a compiler or interpreter before execution.
- Assembly Language (Option B): This is a low-level language that uses mnemonic codes (like ‘ADD‘, ‘SUB‘) instead of binary numbers.
It must be translated into binary machine code by an assembler to be understood by the computer.
Therefore, the computer only directly understands binary language.

Step 3: Final Answer:
The computer understands only Binary Language.