2.5 Translators and Facilitators of Language Flashcards
What is a high-level language?
A programming language that enables the development of a program in a much more user-friendly programming context
What are the advantages of high-level languages?
Easy to read and understand
Code will work on many different computers and processors
What does each instruction in a high-level code represent?
It represents many machine code instructions
What are the disadvantages of high-level language?
Code has to be converted into machine code for the computer to understand so, therefore, is less efficient
Programs will be less memory efficient as there is no control over what the CPU does
What are low-level languages?
Code that can be understood by the computer
Machine code (Binary)
Assembly language
What are the advantages of low-level languages?
Programs are more memory efficient as you control what the CPU does
Machine code can be executed without translators
What are the disadvantages of low-level languages?
Very difficult to read and understand
What does each instruction in low-level language represent?
One particular instruction of machine code
What is the purpose of Assemblers?
Turns assembly language into machine code
What is the purpose of Compilers?
Translate all of the code in one go
Do compilers create an executable file?
Yes
When does the Compiler give a list of errors?
At the end of the program
What is the purpose of interpreters?
Transaltes the code line by line
Do Interpreters create an executable file?
No
When does the Interpreter give a list of errors?
Interpreter will stop after each error
Helps debugging
What is an IDE?
Integrated design environment
How are Editors a useful feature in an IDE?
Includes line numbers and colour coding for different features of the code
Helpful for tracking and fixing errors
How can a Run-Time Environment be a useful feature in an IDE?
Outputs the window
Stimulating different devices the program can run on
How can Error Diagnostics - debugging tool - be a useful feature in an IDE?
Helps to find and solve errors using diagnostic tools
How can translators be a useful feature in an IDE?
Translates the code into machine code so the computer can understand it
How are Breakpoints a useful feature in an IDE?
It can gather information by stopping the program on certain lines
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a compiler?
Code is usually optimised
Original source code is kept a secret
No need for translation software at run-time
Code needs to be recompiled when the code is changed
Program will not run with syntax errors
What are the advantages and disadvantages of interpreters?
Easy to write source code because program will always run
Code does not need to be recompiled
Makes it very easy for beginner programmers to learn to write code
Source code is needed
Code is not optimised
