Interpreter in Java is a computer program that converts high-level program statement into Assembly Level Language. It is designed to read the input source program and then translate the source program instruction by instruction.
Let us dig a bit deeper and understand the concept in detail!
- What is an Interpreter in Java?
- How does an Interpreter in Java work?
- Features of an Interpreter in Java
- Interpreter vs Compiler: How is an Interpreter different than a compiler?
Let’s begin!
What is an Interpreter in Java?
Well, as I mentioned above, an Interpreter in Java is a computer program that helps to convert a high-level program statement into a machine code comprising source code, pre-compiled code, and scripts. An Interpreter converts the code into machine code when the program is run.
Moving ahead with Interpreter in Java, let’s see how it works.
How does an Interpreter in Java work?
Here, the Interpreter reads the source code and directly converts it into the machine code.
Besides this, an Interpreter has several more functions. Let us study them in detail!
Features of an Interpreter in Java
Enumerating the features that an Interpreter possesses:
- For beginners, Interpreter is easy to use
- The interpreter converts the source code line-by-line during the RUN Time
- You can execute and evaluate a program while execution
- Less amount of time is spent on analyzing and processing the program
- When compared to a compiler, the program execution speed is slower
- An interpreter does not generate an intermediate machine code
- Each error of every line is displayed one by one
After understanding the features, let us move to the next topic.
Interpreter vs Compier: How is an Interpreter different than a compiler?
The table below will help you in understanding the differences between an Interpreter and a Compiler.
| Interpreter | Compiler |
| Translates Program Line by Line | Translates entire program together |
| Compile-time is Less but Execution is Slower | Compile-time is More but Execution is Faster |
| Will not generate Intermediate Object Code | Generates Intermediate Object Code |
| Program is Compiled until an Error is found | Error is displayed at the end of Compilation |
| Python, PHP, Perl, Ruby use Interpreter | C, C++, Scala, Java use Compilers |
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