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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Compiler \Com*pil"er\ (k[o^]m*p[imac]l"[~e]r), noun [OE. compiluor; cf. OF. compileor, fr. L. compilator.]
1. One who compiles; esp., one who makes books by compilation.
2. (Computers) a computer program that decodes instructions written in a higher-level computer language to produce an assembly-language program or an executable program in machine language. [WordNet 1.5 +PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
compiler
noun
1: a person who compiles (or writes for) encyclopedias [syn: {encyclopedist}, {encyclopaedist}]
2: (computer science) a program that decodes instructions written in a higher order language and produces an assembly language program [syn: {compiling program}]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
compiler A program that converts another program from some {source language} (or {programming language}) to {machine language} (object code). Some compilers output {assembly language} which is then converted to {machine language} by a separate {assembler}. A compiler is distinguished from an assembler by the fact that each input statement does not, in general, correspond to a single machine instruction or fixed sequence of instructions. A compiler may support such features as automatic allocation of variables, arbitrary arithmetic expressions, control structures such as FOR and WHILE loops, variable {scope}, input/ouput operations, {higher-order function}s and {portability} of source code. {AUTOCODER}, written in 1952, was possibly the first primitive compiler. {Laning and Zierler}'s compiler, written in 1953-1954, was possibly the first true working algebraic compiler. See also {byte-code compiler}, {native compiler}, {optimising compiler}. (1994-11-07)
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |