A Compiler and Interpreter both carry out the same purpose – convert a high level language (like C, Java) instructions into the binary form which is understandable by computer hardware. They are the software used to execute the high level programs and codes to perform various tasks. Specific compilers/interpreters are designed for different high level languages. However both compiler and interpreter have the same objective but they differ in the way they accomplish their task i.e. convert high level language into machine language. Through this article we will talk about the basic working of both and distinguish the basic difference between compiler and interpreter.

Compiler
A compiler is a piece of code that translates the high level language into machine language. When a user writes a code in a high level language such as Java and wants it to execute, a specific compiler which is designed for Java is used before it will be executed. The compiler scans the entire program first and then translates it into machine code which will be executed by the computer processor and the corresponding tasks will be performed. 

 
 

Interpreter

Interpreters are not much different than compilers. They also convert the high level language into machine readable binary equivalents. Each time when an interpreter gets a high level language code to be executed, it converts the code into an intermediate code before converting it into the machine code. Each part of the code is interpreted and then execute separately in a sequence and an error is found in a part of the code it will stop the interpretation of the code without translating the next set of the codes.