4.6.3 Types of program translator

Question 1

Define Translator.

Answer 1

A program which converts code from one computer language to another.

Question 2

What is the purpose of a translator?

Answer 2

In order for a program to be executed by a computer’s processor, it must be in the form of machine code program.

This means that programs written in assembly language or high-level languages need to be translated into machine code before they can be executed by a computer.

Question 3

What are the 3 types of program translator?

Answer 3

Assembler
Compiler
Interpreter

Question 4

Define Assembler.

Answer 4

A translator in low level language, which converts assembly language into machine code.

Question 5

What relationship does assembly language have with machine code?

Answer 5

It has a 1 to 1 relationship, so that the translation between the two languages is fairly quick and straight forward.

Question 6

What does it mean: Assemblers are platform specific?

Answer 6

It means that a different assembler must exist for each different type of processor instruction set.
(Because each type of processor has a different instruction set)

Question 7

Define Compilers.

Answer 7

A translator that converts high level language to machine code (all in one go) and produces an executable file.

Question 8

What is the process of the compiler?

Answer 8

there are 2 phases:
- analysis phase (1,2,3,4)
- synthesis phase (5,6)

1. Lexical analysis - removing white space and comments, replacing key words with tokens.
2. Syntactic analysis - tokens are compared against the rules of the programming language. Errors are flagged as syntax errors.
3. Semantic analysis - any logic mistakes found in the program are flagged.
4. Intermediate Code generation -
5. Code Optimisation -
6. Code Generation -

Question 9

Define Interpreter.