COMPILERS

• A program that translates source code into object code.
• A compiler  translates high-level instructions directly into machine language.
• The compiler derives its name from the way it works, looking at the entire piece of source code and collecting and reorganizing the instructions.
• Thus, a compiler differs from an interpreter, which analyzes and executes each line of source code in succession, without looking at the entire program.
• Compilers require some time before an executable program emerges.
• However, programs produced by compilers run much faster than the same programs executed by an interpreter.

INTERPRETERS

·        An interpreter translates high-level instructions into an intermediate form, which it then executes.

·        The advantage of an interpreter is that it does not need to go through the compilation stage during which machine instructions are generated.

·        The interpreter can immediately execute high-level programs.

·        For this reason, interpreters are sometimes used during the development of a program, when a programmer wants to add small sections at a time and test them quickly.

·        In addition, interpreters are often used in education because they allow students to program interactively.