Humans are capable of
understanding almost any natural language, but a computer does not. A computer
requires a language translator that can convert human languages into its machine level language.
Fortunately, compiler and interpreter are two language
translators that convert high-level programming languages into machine code
that is readable to the computers. basically compiler and interpreter both are used to do same work bit there is some difference between them So, Let's See What is the Difference Between Compilers and Interpreters.
Now, what is a language translator?
A language translator is a
software that translates the programs coded from a high-level programming
language to machine code, which is readable to computers. The high-level
programming language refers to the source code, and the machine code is
typically the machine language of an actual computer.
Why translators are important?
As a computer only understands binary numbers, you need a translator that translate your instructions into binary.
Now that you know the reason
behind needing a translator. Here are the type of translators.
●
Compiler (developed
by Grace Hopper)
●
Interpreter
(developed by Steve Russel)
What is a Compiler?
A compiler is a type of
high-level computer program that translates human-readable programming language
into machine code. It converts the programming language into a binary system
which a computer processor can understand.
A programming language must
compile with the syntax rule of that programming language. In cases when you
are unable to compile with the syntax rule, the program will not process, and
the task will not execute.
Phases of Compiler
Now let us understand each stage
of the compiler in detail.
●
Lexical Analyzer: The lexical analyzer views the code and
scans all the characters of the programming language. Then it groups a string
of characters into lexemes and generates an output of tokens concerning the
programming language.
●
Syntax Analyzer: Once the tokens get generated, they get
verified by the grammar of their programming language. These expressions
authenticated to view the syntactically of the program.
●
Intermediate Code Generator: This brings about an
equivalent intermediate code from the source code. The intermediate code
represents three address codes.
●
Code Optimizer: The code optimizer cultivates the time
and space requirements of the program. It does so by slaying the redundant code
from the program.
●
Code Generator: The final phase of the compiler is to
generate the code that performs the commanded task. Code generator performs
actions like memory management, program register assignments, and
machine-specific optimization.
As now you are clear with the
definition and working of the Compiler. Let's move on to Interpreter.
What is an Interpreter?
An interpreter is a computer
program that executes instruction written in a high-level language(abstraction
independent of particular implementation). In simple words, the role of an
interpreter converts the high-level language into the machine codes but the main thing is interpreter execute line by line. Moreover,
the converted language does include the source code, pre-compiled code, as well
as scripts.
Both interpretation and
compilation are two primary means by which programming language is implemented;
thus, compiler and interpreter are given the same job of converting high-level
programming language to machine code.
Table of difference between Compiler and Interpreter.
Programming steps
|
●
Write a program
●
Compile if all the language statements are correct.
If incorrect, throws all the errors
●
The compiler runs different high-level programming
code into runable tasks known as exe.
●
The written program runs after correctness.
|
●
Create a program
●
No linking of files takes place and no machine code
is generated.
●
Execution of source statements is done line by line
until the program is executed.
|
Advantages
|
The program
code is already converted into machine code resulting in lesser execution
time.
|
These are
easier to use, especially for beginners
|
Disadvantages
|
You need to
go back to the source code to change the program.
|
Interpreted
programs can run on systems that have corresponding interpreters.
|
Machine Code
|
Stores
high-level programming language as machine code in the disk.
|
Does not
store any kind of language.
|
Running time
|
Faster
|
Interpreted
code runs slower
|
Model
|
Based on
translation linking-loading
|
Based on
interpretation.
|
Program Generation
|
It
generates an output program that can run in independently depending upon the
source code.
|
It does not
generate output programs, so you need to evaluate at every step of execution.
|
Execution
|
Program
execution is not the same as a compilation. It is only performed when the
entire output program is compiled.
|
The
interpreter program execution is executed line by line.
|
Memory
Requirements
|
Does not
require the compiler in the memory.
|
The
interpreter exists in the memory during interpretation.
|
Best suited
For
|
C and C++
are the most popular programming language and are best suited for
compilation.
|
For web
environment interpreters and best suited.
|
Code
optimization
|
The
compiler sees the entire source code upfront and thus a lot of optimization is
done to run the code faster.
|
The
interpreter runs code line by line and thus does not have any robust
optimization as a compiler.
|
Dynamic
typing
|
Does not support dynamic typing.
|
The
interpreter supports dynamic typing.
|
Usage
|
Best suited
for a production environment.
|
Best suited
for a web development environment.
|
Error
executions
|
The
compiler displays all the errors at the compilation time.
|
The
interpreter uses the single statement and tells the errors, if any.
|
Input
|
Requires an
entire program.
|
Requires a
single line code.
|
Output
|
Generates
intermediate machine code.
|
Does not
generate any intermediate machine code.
|
errors
|
Displays
all the errors at the same time after compilation.
|
Displays
errors line by line.
|
Pertaining
programming languages
|
C, C++,
Scala, JAVA all use a compiler.
|
PHP, Perl,
Ruby all use interpreters.
|
When we study about compilers
and interpreters, one of the questions arises and that is.....
why do we need an interpreter when we already have a compiler?
The following are the reasons for the development of the
Interpreter:-
●
The interpreter cuts
the huge compilation duration. For example, suppose you frequently update a
program's source code, and this requires 5 minutes. Now, if you needed to
update the source code 5 times, it would cost you 25 minutes, which is quite
big. However, if you use an interpreter, you can reduce this compilation
duration with a significant margin.
● If you write big
source code, the compiler will present all the errors concurrently, making it
hard to grasp the error. Whereas an interpreter shows errors statement by
statement, and it's easier to detect the mistakes and correct them.
Why Java uses both Compiler as well as Interpreter?
JAVAC or compiler of Java helps
to convert the source code into the intermediate file. This intermediate file
is also known as the Bytecode file.
A bytecode file is platform-independent and
unique for all types of OS.
What is a Bytecode file?
Bytecode is just a shorthand
language that was developed by Sun Microsystem. The function of a bytecode file
is to store each keyword of java as a sign and take one byte of memory in RAM.
The name was then given as
Bytecode as it requires only 1 Byte of size in the memory.
The Conclusion
The paras mentioned above have
well explained the role, definition, working, and differences. The post
signifies that both compiler and interpreter were designed to perform the same
task however, both are operational with different procedures.
Compilers and interpreters have
both enhanced the programming era of the world. Be it an interpreter in java or
compiler for translating java commands. Both have their pros and cons but have
proved their value in the development of various software and applications.
If you have any queries or
suggestions, do leave a comment below. We’ll be happy to assist you! So, Here i explained you all the things about What is the Difference Between Compilers and Interpreters.
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