compiled vs interpreted

Beattie · Apprentice Joined: 24 Jun 2002 Posts: 155

Why do some languages only have compilers and some only have interpreters? I think it would be cool to have an interpreter for C or a compiler for python or perl. And wouldnt it help programmers also? like write some code, use the interpreter and see if it works, and then you can compile it to optimize it.

PowerFactor · Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2003 4:39 pm Post subject:

Just search google. :wink:

You should find lots of info on this as it is one of the basic issues of programming. You obviously have the basic idea, interpreted languages are generally easier to develop while compiled programs generally run faster.

I know you can compile Perl, though it likely still won't be as optimized as "good"(TM) C. I think there are compilers for several of the more popular interpreted languages but I don't know how much they are used. Heck, you can even compile matlab scripts.

There are various C/C++ interpreters as well, I have never used one though.(I don't program much)