Threaded code: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:46, 23 January 2024

Revision as of 12:35, 7 October 2024

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==History==

{{Original research section|date=February 2020}}

The common way to make computer programs is to use a [[compiler]] to translate [[source code]] (written in some [[Symbolic language (programming)|symbolic language]]) to [[machine code]]. The resulting [[executable]] is typically fast but, because it is specific to a [[computer hardware|hardware]] platform, it isn't portable. A different approach is to generate [[instruction set|instructions]] for a [[virtual machine]] and to use an [[interpreter (computing)|interpreter]] on each hardware platform. The interpreter instantiates the virtual machine environment and executes the instructions. Thus the interpreter, compiled to machine code, provides an abstraction layer for "interpreted languages" that only theneed interpreterlittle mustcompilation to conform to that layer (compilation may be compiledconfined to generating an [[Abstract Syntax Tree]]) or even need no compilation at all (if the layer is designed to consume raw source code.)

Early computers had relatively little memory. For example, most [[Data General Nova]], [[IBM 1130]], and many of the first [[microcomputer]]s had only 4 kB of RAM installed. Consequently, a lot of time was spent trying to find ways to reduce a program's size, to fit in the available memory.