Abstract
An interpreter is simply a device which takes some representation of a program and carries out the operations which the program specifies — i.e. it mimics or simulates the operations which a machine would carry out if it were directly capable of processing programs written in that language. A compiler takes a similar representation of a program and produces instructions which, when processed by a machine, will carry out the operations which the program specifies. The difference between an interpreter and a machine under this definition is not very great: the microprogram of a computer is an interpreter which reads a machine code program and imitates the behaviour that a ‘real’ machine would express given that program.
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© 1979 Richard Bornat
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Bornat, R. (1979). Interpreters and Interpretation. In: Understanding and Writing Compilers. Macmillan Computer Science Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16178-2_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-16178-2_20
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-21732-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-16178-2
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