the.com/compiler
a translator that turns your good intentions into machine-speakable reality, then judges your typos.
means A program that translates source code written in a high-level programming language into machine code, bytecode, or another lower-level form that a computer can execute.
from From the verb 'compile,' which came through Old French 'compiler' from Latin 'compilare' — literally 'to plunder' or 'snatch together,' built from 'com-' (together) and 'pilare' (to pile up or rob). For centuries it meant gathering scattered writings into one collection, as a scholar compiles an anthology. The computing sense arrived in the mid-20th century: early programmers spoke of 'compiling' a program by assembling routines from a library, and the machine that did this gathering-and-translating became the 'compiler.'
- first one
- Grace Hopper built it in 1952, doubters be damned
- self-hosting
- many compilers are written in their own language
- bootstrapping
- first version compiled by hand, then it compiles itself
- optimization
- can rewrite code faster than you ever could
- errors
- one missing semicolon halts the entire empire
gcc — gnu compiler collection, created 1987, translates c/c++/fortran to machine code
clang — llvm-based compiler, first released 2007, powers apple's xcode
javac — java compiler included in jdk since 1995, compiles .java to bytecode