Capterra Glossary
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (source code) into another, more basic programming language. Typically, the source code is a high-level programming language—such as JavaScript—that gets translated into a lower-level machine language (such as binary or bytecode, for example) that is better understood by a system’s processor. The output of a compiler is called an object code, which is a machine language that a computer processor can easily understand and execute one instruction at a time. It's important to note that compilers do not fix computer code; this means that if the code is faulty then the compiler will not be able to translate one programming language into another more basic machine language.
What Small and Midsize Businesses Need to Know About Compiler
Tech startups and small businesses that create software programs typically use compilers as a utility program to transform human written computer code into code that is more easily understood by machines. Without compilers, creating new software applications would be quite difficult, simply because writing in binary or bytecode is nearly impossible to accomplish.
Related Terms
- Synchronous
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
- Intranet
- Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR)
- Identity and Access Management (IAM)
- Managed Service Provider (MSP)
- Haptics
- WAN (Wide-Area Network)
- Service-oriented Architecture (SOA)
- Augmented Reality (AR)
- Chief Information Officer (CIO)
- Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Service-Level Agreement (SLA)
- Scalability
- Data Center
- Authorization
- Multitenancy