Compiler

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Compiler \Com*pil"er\ (k[o^]m*p[imac]l"[~e]r), n. [OE.
     compiluor; cf. OF. compileor, fr. L. compilator.]
     1. One who compiles; esp., one who makes books by
        compilation.
        [1913 Webster]
  


     2. (Computers) a computer program that decodes instructions
        written in a higher-level computer language to produce an
        assembly-language program or an executable program in
        machine language.
        [WordNet 1.5 +PJC]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  compiler
       n 1: a person who compiles (or writes for) encyclopedias [syn: {encyclopedist},
             {encyclopaedist}]
       2: (computer science) a program that decodes instructions
          written in a higher order language and produces an
          assembly language program [syn: {compiling program}]

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  compiler
       
           A program that converts another program
          from some {source language} (or {programming language}) to
          {machine language} (object code).  Some compilers output
          {assembly language} which is then converted to {machine
          language} by a separate {assembler}.
       
          A compiler is distinguished from an assembler by the fact that
          each input statement does not, in general, correspond to a
          single machine instruction or fixed sequence of instructions.
          A compiler may support such features as automatic allocation
          of variables, arbitrary arithmetic expressions, control
          structures such as FOR and WHILE loops, variable {scope},
          input/ouput operations, {higher-order function}s and
          {portability} of source code.
       
          {AUTOCODER}, written in 1952, was possibly the first primitive
          compiler.  {Laning and Zierler}'s compiler, written in
          1953-1954, was possibly the first true working algebraic
          compiler.
       
          See also {byte-code compiler}, {native compiler}, {optimising
          compiler}.
       
          (1994-11-07)