Programming languages are classified as high-level or low-level languages. Translators are needed to translate programs into the machine code that a computer understands.

From a more low-level programming perspective as inspired by C code and kin, the use of directly shared resources makes more sense, and can be argued to have performance benefits.

An operating system can provide both low- and high-level programming interfaces (APIs). A low-level API lets programmers access more intricate hardware features but requires more detailed coding.