Interpreter
rascal-0.34.0
Synopsis
Directly execute the statements of a program.
Description
There are two methods to execute a program that is written in some source language:
- An Interpreter directly executes the source statements (but see the variations below).
- A Compiler translates the source program to some efficient executable form. That executable form is then executed by a hardware processor.
Interpreters exist in many flavours:
- Direct execution of the source.
- First parse the source text and build an Abstract Syntax Tree that is then interpreted.
- As (2), but convert the AST first to an intermediate form that is more suitable for execution. Then interpret that intermediate form.
- As (2), but compile frequently executed parts of the the AST to executable code.
Clearly, going down this list, the interpreter more and more starts resembling a compiler.
The advantages of interpreters versus compiler are:
- Interpreter: Pro: simpler than compiler, faster development loop, better debugging facilities, better error messages. Con: slower.
- Compiler: Pro: fast execution. Con: complex, optimizations are error-prone.