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Interpreter (Computing) : Program Execution

An interpreter is a computer program that executes instructions from a programming or scripting language directly, without first compiling the code into machine language. There are three main strategies interpreters use: 1) directly parsing and performing the source code, 2) translating source code into an intermediate representation to immediately execute, or 3) explicitly executing precompiled code stored by a compiler that is part of the interpreter system. Examples of each type are Lisp and BASIC as the first type, Perl, Python, MATLAB and Ruby as the second type, and UCSD Pascal as the third type. While interpretation and compilation are two main implementation methods, many interpreters also do some translation work, and a language is defined by its canonical implementation as

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30 views2 pages

Interpreter (Computing) : Program Execution

An interpreter is a computer program that executes instructions from a programming or scripting language directly, without first compiling the code into machine language. There are three main strategies interpreters use: 1) directly parsing and performing the source code, 2) translating source code into an intermediate representation to immediately execute, or 3) explicitly executing precompiled code stored by a compiler that is part of the interpreter system. Examples of each type are Lisp and BASIC as the first type, Perl, Python, MATLAB and Ruby as the second type, and UCSD Pascal as the third type. While interpretation and compilation are two main implementation methods, many interpreters also do some translation work, and a language is defined by its canonical implementation as

Uploaded by

Ahmad Jazmi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Interpreter (computing)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Program execution
General topics

Runtime system

Runtime library

Executable

Compiler

Interpreter

Virtual machine

Source code

Object code

Bytecode

Machine code
Specific runtimes

Android Runtime (ART)

crt0

Common Language Runtime (CLR)

Dalvik

Java virtual machine (JVM)

In computer science, an interpreter is a computer program that directly executes, i.e. performs,
instructions written in aprogramming or scripting language, without previously compiling them
into a machine language program. An interpreter generally uses one of the following strategies
for program execution:
1. parse the source code and perform its behavior directly

2. translate source code into some efficient intermediate representation and immediately
execute this
3. explicitly execute stored precompiled code[1] made by a compiler which is part of the
interpreter system
Early versions of the Lisp programming language and Dartmouth BASIC would be examples of
the first type. Perl, Python, MATLAB, and Ruby are examples of the second, while UCSD
Pascal is an example of the third type. Source programs are compiled ahead of time and stored
as machine independent code, which is then linked at run-time and executed by an interpreter
and/or compiler (forJIT systems). Some systems, such as Smalltalk, contemporary versions
of BASIC, Java and others may also combine two and three.
While interpretation and compilation are the two main means by which programming languages
are implemented, they are not mutually exclusive, as most interpreting systems also perform
some translation work, just like compilers. The terms "interpreted language" or "compiled
language" signify that the canonical implementation of that language is an interpreter or a
compiler, respectively. A high level language is ideally an abstraction independent of particular
implementations.

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