Translators and facilities of languages Flashcards
advantages of a high level language: (2)
-easier for programmers to understand
-contain words from natural language
characteristics of machine code: (2)
-the computer’s own language
-binary/ mnemonics
what are the two types of low level languages?
machine code and assembly language
what is the purpose of a translator?
converts source code into machine code/ assembly language for the computer to process it and execute the instructions.
2 types of translator?
compilers and interpretors
what does a compiler do?
takes the source code as a whole and translates it into object code all in one go
what does a translator do?
translates source code into object code one instruction at a time
advantage of a compiler? (2)
-can be supplied as an executable file
-compiled programs run quickly, since they have already been translated.
disadvantage of a compiler? (2)
-do not usually spot errors
-This makes it harder to see where the errors lie.
advantage of an interpreter? (2)
Errors can be quickly spotted - program stops running and the user is notified at which part of the program the interpretation has failed.
This makes interpreters extremely useful when developing programs.
disadvantage of an interpreter? (2)
-Interpreted programs run more slowly as the processor has to wait for each instruction to be translated before it can be executed.
-the program has to be translated every time it is run.
what do IDEs help programmers to produce?
error-free, maintainable code.
what do editors allow programmers to do?
what do they improve about code?
write and edit code
its readability
features of an editor?
automatic line numbering
colour coding
auto-correct
auto-suggestion
auto-indent
what do debugging tools help a programmer in?
locating and fixing errors
