What are assemblers designed to do?

Assemblers are specialized tools that translate assembly language into machine language, which is the binary code that a computer's processor can execute directly. Assembly language provides a more human-readable way to write instructions for a computer compared to machine language, which consists of just 0s and 1s.

When programmers write code in assembly language, they use mnemonic codes and symbols, making it easier to understand and manipulate low-level operations. The assembler takes this higher-level representation and converts it into the specific binary instructions for the target machine architecture. This process is essential for allowing developers to write programs that can directly interact with hardware components while still being more comprehensible than raw machine code.

The other options refer to different processes: converting high-level languages to machine language is the role of a compiler, while executing code directly refers to how a computer runs programs without needing an additional translation step. Thus, the core function of assemblers is clearly defined as translating assembly language to machine language.