compiler

A program which performs a process of compilation on a program written in a high level programming language.

A program to translate source code into code to be executed by a computer. The Java compiler translates source code written in the Java programming language into bytecode for the Java virtual machine . See also interpreter.

Strictly speaking, a program that munches up another program and spits out yet another file containing the program in a "more executable" form, typically containing native machine instructions. The perl program is not a compiler by this definition, but it does contain a kind of compiler that takes a program and turns it into a more executable form (syntax trees) within the perl process itself, which the "interpreter" then interprets. There are, however, extension modules to get Perl to act more like a "real" compiler. See O.

A computer program for compiling. Synonym compiling program.