A Compiler and Interpreter both carry out the same purpose –
convert a high level language (like C, Java) instructions into the binary form
which is understandable by computer hardware. Specific
compilers/interpreters are designed for different high level languages. However
both compiler and interpreter have the same goal but they different in the
way they accomplish their task i.e. convert high level language into machine
language. Through this article we will talk about the basic knowledge of both and
distinguish the basic difference between compiler and interpreter.
Compiler
Compiler is a piece of code that
translates the high level language into machine language. When a user writes a
code in a high level language and wants to execute, a specific
compiler which is designed for that specific language is used before it will be executed. Compiler scans whole program first and then translates it into machine
code which will be executed by the computer processor and the corresponding
tasks will be performed.
Interpreter
Interpreters are not much different than compilers. They also
convert the high level language into machine readable binary equivalents. Each
time when an interpreter gets a high level language code to be executed, it
converts the code into an intermediate code before converting it into the
machine code. Each part of the code is interpreted and then execute separately
in a sequence and an error is found in a part of the code it will stop the
interpretation of the code without translating the next set of the
codes.
In the above figure, first a source code is converted to an intermediate form and then
that is executed by the interpreter.
The main differences between compiler and interpreter are listed
below:
- The
interpreter takes one statement then translates it and executes it and then
takes another statement. While the compiler translates the entire program in
one go and then executes it.
- Compiler
generates the error report after the translation of the entire page while an
interpreter will stop the translation after it gets the first error.
- ·Compiler takes a larger amount of time in analyzing and processing the high level language code comparatively interpreter takes lesser time in the same process.
- 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.
- Besides the
processing and analyzing time the overall execution time of a code is faster
for compiler relative to the interpreter.
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