Language Translators
Language translators convert programming source code into language that the computer processor understands. Programming source code has various structures and commands, but computer processors only understand machine language. Different types of translations must occur to turn programming source code into machine language, which is made up of bits of binary data. The three major types of language translators are compilers, assemblers, and interpreters.
Compilers
Most 3GL and higher-level programming languages use a compiler for language translation. A compiler is a special program that takes written source code and turns it into machine language. When a compiler executes, it analyzes all of the language statements in the source code and builds the machine language object code. After a program is compiled, it is then a form that the processor can execute one instruction at a time.
In some operating systems, an additional step called linking is required after compilation. Linking resolves the relative location of instructions and data when more than one object module needs to be run at the same time and both modules cross-reference each otherüs instruction sequences or data.
Most high-level programming languages come with a compiler. However, object code is unique for each type of computer. Many different compilers exist for each language in order to translate for each type of computer. In addition, the compiler industry is quite competitive, so there are actually many compilers for each language on each type of computer. Although they require an extra step before execution, compiled programs often run faster than programs executed using an interpreter.
Assembler
An assembler translates assembly language into machine language. Assembly language is one step removed from machine language. It uses computer-specific commands and structure similar to machine language, but assembly language uses names instead of numbers.
An assembler is similar to a compiler, but it is specific to translating programs written in assembly language into machine language. To do this, the assembler takes basic computer instructions from assembly language and converts them into a pattern of bits for the computer processor to use to perform its operations.
Interpreters
Many high-level programming languages have the option of using an interpreter instead of a compiler. Some of these languages exclusively use an interpreter. An interpreter behaves very differently from compilers and assemblers. It converts programs into machine-executable form each time they are executed. It analyzes and executes each line of source code, in order, without looking at the entire program. Instead of requiring a step before program execution, an interpreter processes the program as it is being executed.
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