"Assembly" vs. "Assembler"

I've been taught that "assembly" is what you write in your files, to have your "assembler" convert it into binary code.

But I see these two terms mixed and matched in various works. I've even heard that you write "assembler", after which an "assemblator" makes it executable.

What's the right words to use?

The purpose of language is to communicate.

If people say things, and other people understand them, they are using the correct terms.

We have rules to make it easier to understand, but in my opinion, if you say what sounds best for you, and let other people say what sounds best for them, and you all understand what you all mean, then everything will be peachy.

For what it's worth, I prefer to write "assembly" and assemble it with an "assembler." I think "assemblator" should be the word of the day someday, and everyone should try to use it as often as possible.

Actually, the language is called "Assembly Language", and the tool to convert it to machine code is the "Assembler".

More info on Wikipedia:

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The **assembly** is a piece of code/executable that is in machine executable code. This might be an obj, exe, dll, ... It is the result of a compile.

The **assembler** is the "compiler" that compiles code into machine executable code. This code has been written in the language "**Assembly Language**". Assembly language in common English is often called Assembler.

Assemblator seems to be a creative word, born out of necessity to reduce confusion caused by missusing the other terms or a term in a foreign language (see other answers).

This might be a (human) language issue - the Swedish word for "assembler" appears to be "[assemblator](

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;...

See also: <http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assemblator>

I'm guessing the origin of these terms goes back to the classic dictionary defintion of assembly: "an *assembly* of machine instructions to achieve a purpose" which is probably how the computing pioneers thought of a small group of machine instructions. Then an "assembler" is a device that takes individual machine instructions an puts them together into an "assembly".