Compiled language

Acompiled languageis aprogramming languagefor whichsource codeis typicallycompiled;notinterpreted.

The term is vague since, in principle, any language can be compiled or interpreted and in practice some languages are both (in different environments).In some environments, source code is first compiled (to an intermediate form; oftenbytecode) and then interpreted.

Advantages and disadvantages

Programs compiled to native code tend run faster than if interpreted due to translation overhead. Environments with a bytcode intermediate form tend toward intermediate speed.Just-in-time compilationallows for native execution speed with a one-time startup processing time cost.

Low-level programming languages,such asassemblyandC,are typically compiled, especially when efficiency is the main concern, rather thancross-platformsupport. For such languages, there are more one-to-one correspondences between the source code and the resultingmachine code,making it easier for programmers to control the use of hardware.

It is possible to write compilers even for commonlyinterpreted languages.For example,Common Lispcan be compiled to Java bytecode (then interpreted by theJava virtual machine), C code (then compiled to native machine code), or directly to native code.

Environments that support multiple compilation output languages provide developers control to choose either execution speed or cross-platform compatibility.

See also

• ANTLR– LL(*) parser generator programPages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
• Flex– UNIX program for lexical analysisPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• GNU bison– Yacc-compatible parser generator programPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Lex– Standard UNIX utility
• List of compiled languages
• Interpreter (computing)– Program that executes source code without a separate compilation step
• Scripting language– Programming language designed for scripting
• Yacc– Parser generator

External links

• Compiled LanguagesatCurlie