compiler

Intermediate 💻 Tech / IT

Definition

A specialized program that translates human-readable code into the incomprehensible machine language computers actually understand, like an interpreter for developers who refuse to learn binary. It also moonlights as a sadistic error message generator that points out every missing semicolon with the enthusiasm of a grammar Nazi. The difference between good and bad compilers is whether they tell you what's wrong or just that something is wrong somewhere in your 10,000 lines of code.

Example Usage

The compiler threw 47 errors, but they all turned out to be caused by one missing bracket on line 3.

Source: Common programming terminology

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