What is a difference between a compiler and an interpreter?
An interpreter creates an executable file.
A compiler creates an executable file.
A compiler is source code.
An interpreter is source code.
The main difference between a compiler and an interpreter lies in how they process and execute code.
A compiler takes the entire source code as input and translates it into a machine language or bytecode executable file that can be directly executed by a computer. This compiled code can then be run multiple times without the need for recompilation, as the translation process has already taken place. The compiled code is typically platform-specific and optimized for performance.
On the other hand, an interpreter does not create an executable file. Instead, it directly processes the source code line by line, interpreting and executing each statement as it encounters it. This means that the interpreter does not need to go through a separate compilation step, as it can execute the code directly. However, this also means that the interpretation process needs to occur every time the code is run, leading to potentially slower execution compared to compiled code.
Both compilers and interpreters are used to translate high-level programming languages into machine-readable instructions, but they differ in their approach to executing the code.