Execution (computing): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:44, 3 November 2022

Revision as of 09:30, 12 November 2022

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{{Short description|Running of a program by a computer}}

{{Program execution}}

'''Execution''' in [[computer engineering|computer]] and software engineering is the process by which a [[computer]] or [[virtual machine]] reads and acts on the instructions of a [[computer program]]. Each instruction of a program is a description of a particular action which must be carried out, in order for a specific problem to be solved. Execution involves repeatedly following a '[[Instruction cycle|fetch–decode–execute]]' cycle for each instruction done by [[control unit]]. As the executing machine follows the instructions, specific effects are produced in accordance with the [[Formal semantics of programming languages|semantics]] of those instructions.

Programs for a computer may be executed in a [[Batch processing|batch process]] without human interaction or a [[User (computing)|user]] may type [[Command (computing)|commands]] in an [[Session (computer science)|interactive session]] of an [[Interpreter (computing)|interpreter]]. In this case, the "commands" are simply program instructions, whose execution is chained together.