Compiler The complete source code of a program produced in a high-level programming language is simultaneously translated into machine code (binary code) by a compiler, a specialized tool.

Writing a compiler seems like a much harder problem than an interpreter. If that is so, why was the first compiler written six years before the first interpreter?

A compiler is a computer program that translates from one format to another, most often from a high-level computer language to byte code and machine code.

Catalog description: Examination of the nature of programming languages and programs which implement them. Compiler and interpreter design and implementation techniques. Review of grammars and ...