Compiler: A compiler is a computer program(or a set of program) that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language(the target language).
Interpreter: An interpreter is a common kind of language processor
| Compiler | Interpreter |
|---|---|
| A compiler is a computer program(or a set of program) that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language(the target language). | An interpreter is a common kind of language processor, instead of producing a target program as a translation an interpreter appears to directly execute the operations specified in the source program on inputs supplied by the user. |
| Compiler works on the complete program at once. It takes the entire program as input. | Interpreter program works line-by-line. It takes one statement at a time as input. |
| Compiler generate the intermediate code called as object code or machine code. | Interpreter does not generate intermediate code. |
| Compiler executes conditional control statements(like if-else and switch case) faster than interpreter. | Interpreter executes conditional control statements at a slower rate. |
| It takes more memory since the entire compiled code(object code) has to be reside in memory. | Interpreted programs are more memory efficient as they do not generate any object code. |
| Compile once and run anytime, they doesn't need to run eveytime. | Interpreted programs are interpreted line-by-line every time they are run. |
| Errors are reported after the whole program is checked for syntactical and other errors. | Errors are reported as soon as the first error is encountered. Rest of the program will not be checked until the existing error is removed. |
| A compiled language is more difficult to debug. | Debugging is easy because interpreter stops and reports errors as it encounter them. |
| Compiler does not allow a program to run until it is completely error free. | Interpreter runs the program from first line and stops execution only if it encounters an error. |
| Compiled language are more efficient but difficult ot debug. | Interpreted language are less efficient but easy to debug. |
| Examples of programming languages that use compiler are C, C++, COBOL, JAVA. | Examples of programming languages that use interpreter are BASIC, Python, PHP, Perl, LISP. |