interpretateur

An interpretateur, or interpreter in English, is a computer program that directly executes instructions written in a programming or scripting language, without requiring them to have been previously compiled into a machine language program. Interpreters are a type of language translator. They read a source program, a line or a small block of code at a time, interpret it, and then execute it. This contrasts with compilers, which translate the entire source program into machine code before execution.

The process of interpretation involves several steps. First, the interpreter reads a statement or instruction from the source code. Then, it analyzes this instruction to understand its meaning and purpose. Finally, it executes the instruction, often by calling subroutines that perform the required operations. This cycle repeats for each instruction in the program.

Interpreted languages offer several advantages, including ease of development and debugging. Since code is executed line by line, errors can often be identified and fixed more quickly. However, interpreted programs generally run slower than compiled programs because the interpretation process adds overhead to each instruction. Examples of languages that are commonly interpreted include Python, JavaScript, Ruby, and PHP. Some implementations of languages like Java also use a hybrid approach, compiling to an intermediate bytecode which is then interpreted by a virtual machine. The choice between an interpreted and compiled language often depends on the specific application requirements, such as performance needs versus development speed.