Computer Science
Is assembly code a high level or low level language?
Low level language
What does an assembler do?
Translates assembly code into machine code
What does a compiler do?
Translates an entire program in high level language into executable machine code (Which is called object code)
Define source code
The plain text that's inoutted into the compiler
Give a feature about object code
It's hardware specific, so will only run in certain environments
What does an interpreter do?
Translates code written in a high level language to machine code
What is different about an interpreter in comparison to a compiler
Translates code line by line before executing
Give advantages of a compiler
- Machine code runs faster than interpreted code
- It's hard for users to view/edit the original program, so is better for distributing finished programs
- faster to execute
- compiled code can't be read/copied by others
- can run many times without needing to execute
Give advantages of an interpreter
- Better for debugging programs as it runs line by line so detects errors more easily
- If a small error is found the program doesn't need to be recompiled, which is better when developing and testing the code
- Source code can be run on any machine with an interpreter
How is bytecode interpreted
Using a bytecode interpreter
Under what condition can bytecode be transferred to a machine
The machine must have a bytecode interpreter
Give differences between high and low level languages
High level languages - easier to read
- less memory efficient
- debugging is easier
Low level languages - harder to understand
- more memory eficient
- debugging is more complex