What is one difference between compiled and interpreted programming languages?

Let us check the difference between Compiled and Interpreted Language based on various parameters given in the table below.

Compiled Language

Interpreted Language

The code of a compiled language can be directly executed by the CPU of a computer.

A program written in an interpreted language is interpreted rather than compiled.

Compile-time programs are faster than interpret-time programs.

While the program is running, interpreted programs can be modified.

 From source code to execution, there are at least two steps.

From source code to execution, there is only one step.

A compiled language is a programming language with compilers rather than interpreters as implementations.

An interpreted language is a programming language whose implementations directly and freely execute instructions without first compiling a program into machine-language instructions.

Examples of compiled languages are C, C++, C#, CLEO, COBOL, etc.

Examples of Interpreted languages are JavaScript, Perl, Python, BASIC, etc.

What is Compiled Language?

A compiler is a program that generates a set of instructions that computers can execute based on a representation of the meaning of the code. A compiler translates the entire source code. Compilers required the information to enable advanced optimization and efficient code representation. During compilation, the optimization process can obtain the values in an expression.

The compilation is a set of transformations that converts the source language to the target language. As some compilers, such as Dart, can translate to JavaScript, a target language could be another programming language. Meanwhile, other compilers, such as Java, generate bytecode, which the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) interprets to generate a set of instructions that processors can execute.

What is Interpreted Language?

After knowing the difference between Compiled and Interpreted Language, let us discuss interpreted language. An interpreter generates machine code one line at a time by translating each line of code. The interpreter has fewer opportunities for optimization because it translates your program at runtime. Meanwhile, because compiled languages are notorious for their cryptic error messages, translating programs at runtime results in a dynamic type system that provides flexibility and ease of handling errors.

In a compiled language, re-compilation may necessitate restarting the entire compilation even if only minor portions of the code are changed. In some compilers, this process can take up to 30 - 40 minutes for large projects. As a side note, modern compilers have optimized for this (e.g., Dart VM Hot Reload to minimize development time and maximize productivity), but interpreted programming languages are designed for rapid prototyping and agile development.

During the design of an application, you might need to decide whether to use a compiled language or an interpreted language for the application source code.

Both types of languages have their strengths and weaknesses. Usually, the decision to use an interpreted language is based on time restrictions on development or for ease of future changes to the program. A trade-off is made when using an interpreted language. You trade speed of development for higher execution costs. Because each line of an interpreted program must be translated each time it is executed, there is a higher overhead. Thus, an interpreted language is generally more suited to ad hoc requests than predefined requests.

Advantages of compiled languages

Assembler, COBOL, PL/I, C/C++ are all translated by running the source code through a compiler. This results in very efficient code that can be executed any number of times. The overhead for the translation is incurred just once, when the source is compiled; thereafter, it need only be loaded and executed.

Interpreted languages, in contrast, must be parsed, interpreted, and executed each time the program is run, thereby greatly adding to the cost of running the program. For this reason, interpreted programs are usually less efficient than compiled programs.

Some programming languages, such as REXX™ and Java™, can be either interpreted or compiled.

Advantages of interpreted languages

There are reasons for using languages that are compiled and reasons for using interpreted languages. There is no simple answer as to which language is "better"—it depends on the application. Even within an application we could end up using many different languages. For example, one of the strengths of a language like CLIST is that it is easy to code, test, and change. However, it is not very efficient. The trade-off is machine resources for programmer time.

Keeping this in mind, we can see that it would make sense to use a compiled language for the intensive parts of an application (heavy resource usage), whereas interfaces (invoking the application) and less-intensive parts could be written in an interpreted language. An interpreted language might also be suited for ad hoc requests or even for prototyping an application.

One of the jobs of a designer is to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of each language and then decide which part of an application is best served by a particular language.

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