8.4 Translators And Facilities Of Languages

Question 1

In first computers, what were programs written in?

Answer 1

Machine code

Question 2

Assembly language

Answer 2

More easy to write than machine code but it is processor specific and has to be translates into machine code before executed. Assembly language is a low level language

Question 3

High level languages

Answer 3

Statements usually look like a bit of English or Maths. They also have data structures such as arrays and records.

Question 4

How are high level languages translated?

Answer 4

A compiler or translater

Question 5

Order of languages to components

Answer 5

High-level language -> Assembly language -> Machine code -> Hardware

Question 6

High-level Advantages

Answer 6

Easier to learn, programs can be written faster, easier to understand and debug

Question 7

Low-level advantages

Answer 7

Can run very quickly, uses less RAM, can be used to manipulate specific hardware componenets

Question 8

Give a use for Low-level languages

Answer 8

Drivers

Question 9

Compiler

Answer 9

• Source code written by programmer
• Translates the whole program to produce object code
• Executes much faster as it is already in machine code
• Can be saved in storage and run at any time
• Compiler doesn’t need to be present at run time
• Customers can’t see the code

Question 10

Interpreter

Answer 10

• Translates a high-level language into machine code one line at a time and immediately executes it
• Take more time to be executed
• Interpreter must be installed
• Customers can see the source code
• If it reaches a syntax error, it stops and displays an error message

Question 11

Compiled examples

Answer 11

Java is compiled into an intermediate stage called bytecode, bytecode can be interpreted on many different types of processors using an interpreter

Question 12

Interpreter examples

Answer 12

Javascript, used in webpages is interpreted; the source code is included in the webpage and then interpreted in the browser