[dllthomas]

Arguably, even machine language is "some API" and assembler "some language trick".

[fleitz]

Good point, I forgot for a second that the CPU turns assembler into microcode before executing it.

[dllthomas]

The CPU often turns machine code into microcode, true, and that's a good point but it wasn't the point I was trying to make. Even in simpler processors that actually do directly execute the machine code, I think you can view that machine code as an API for controlling the processor system.