A compiler is similar to an interpreter.
However, a compiler is faster than an interpreter and translates the entire file at once.
An interpreter reads the source program line by line and, therefore, is a slower process.
TurboC++ and Keil are two specific examples of commonly used compilers..
As we already know, the compiler converts high-level source code to low-level code.
Then, the target machine executes low-level code.
On the other hand, the interpreter analyzes and executes source code directly..
The achievements of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, which include, most notably, the invention of the compiler, cemented her place at the forefront of the computing revolution that began in the early 1940s.
Trained as a mathematician, her career spanned six decades..
The most common type of compiler-compiler is more precisely called a parser generator. It only handles syntactic analysis.
The input of a parser generator is a grammar file, typically written in Backus–Naur form (BNF) or extended Backus–Naur form (EBNF) that defines the syntax of a target programming language.
In computer science, a compiler-compiler or compiler generator is a programming tool that creates a parser, interpreter, or compiler from some form of formal description of a programming language and machine.
The most common type of compiler-compiler is more precisely called a parser generator. It only handles syntactic analysis.
A metacompiler is a metaprogram usually written in its own metalanguage or an existing computer programming language.
The process of a metacompiler, written in its own metalanguage, compiling itself is equivalent to self-hosting compiler.
Most common compilers written today are self-hosting compilers.
The language of the compiler produced is called the object language.
The minimal input producing a compiler is a metaprogram specifying the object language grammar and semantic transformations into an object program.
2010 book artwork by James Bridle
