High-level assembler

High-level assemblers in computing are assemblers for assembly language that incorporate features found in high-level programming languages.

The earliest high-level assembler was probably Burroughs ESPOL in about 1960, which provided an ALGOL-like syntax around explicitly-specified B5000 machine instructions. This was followed by Niklaus Wirth's PL360 in 1968, this replicated the Burroughs facilities, with which he was familiar, on an IBM S/360. More recent high-level assemblers are Borland's TASM, NASM, Microsoft's MASM, IBM's HLASM (for z/Architecture systems), Alessandro Ghignola's Linoleum and Ziron.