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Compiled language

A compiled language is a programming language in which source code written in a human-readable form is translated by a compiler into machine code or an intermediate form, such as bytecode, prior to execution. The output runs directly on the target hardware for machine code, or is executed by a virtual machine or runtime environment for intermediate forms like bytecode.^[1]^[2] This contrasts with interpreted languages, where an interpreter executes the source code line by line at runtime without producing a separate executable.^[3]^[4] The compilation process generally consists of multiple phases to convert high-level code into executable form.^[5] This structured translation ensures the program adheres to the language's grammar and semantics before runtime.^[2] Prominent examples of compiled languages include C, C++, Fortran, and COBOL, which have been foundational in developing system software, scientific computing, and business applications.^[1]^[6]^[7] Compiled languages provide key advantages, such as superior runtime performance due to the elimination of on-the-fly translation overhead, making them ideal for resource-intensive tasks like operating systems and embedded systems.^[2]^[8] However, they often involve longer development cycles because modifications require recompilation, and platform-specific binaries reduce portability compared to interpreted alternatives.^[9]^[4]

Definition and Characteristics

Definition

A compiled programming language is one in which the source code, written in a high-level syntax, is translated by a compiler into machine code or an intermediate representation such as bytecode prior to execution, enabling the program to run directly on the target hardware or virtual machine.^[2]^[1] This ahead-of-time translation process contrasts with runtime translation mechanisms, as the compiler performs a comprehensive analysis of the entire source code to generate an optimized executable form.^[2] The one-time compilation step in these languages produces a standalone artifact that can be executed repeatedly without additional overhead from interpretation, assuming the target environment is compatible.^[1] For instance, languages like C compile to native machine code, while others like Java produce platform-independent bytecode that is subsequently interpreted or just-in-time compiled by a virtual machine.^[10] This definitional focus on pre-execution translation distinguishes compiled languages from those relying on interpreters, though hybrid approaches exist in modern implementations.^[2]

Key Characteristics

Compiled languages typically employ static typing, where variable types are determined and verified at compile time rather than during execution. This approach allows the compiler to perform thorough type checking before the program runs, catching type-related errors early in the development process and reducing the likelihood of runtime failures. For instance, in languages like C and Java, the compiler enforces type compatibility for operations such as assignments and function calls, ensuring that mismatches—such as assigning a string to an integer variable—are flagged immediately.^[11]^[12]^[13] A defining trait of compiled languages is the generation of executable binaries or intermediate representations, such as bytecode, which can be either platform-specific or portable across systems. In traditional cases, like C or C++, the compiler translates source code directly into machine code tailored to a particular architecture, producing standalone executables that run natively on the target hardware without further translation. Alternatively, languages like Java compile to platform-independent bytecode, which is then executed by a virtual machine, enabling portability while still avoiding source-level reinterpretation at runtime.^[14]^[15] Compilation provides extensive opportunities for optimizations that enhance performance and efficiency, including dead code elimination and inline expansions. Dead code elimination removes unused computations or branches identified during static analysis, shrinking the final executable and improving execution speed by eliminating redundant operations. Inline expansion, meanwhile, replaces function calls with the actual function body at the call site, reducing overhead from parameter passing and return jumps, particularly beneficial for frequently invoked small routines. These transformations occur entirely at compile time, leveraging the compiler's global view of the program to apply them systematically.^[16]^[17]^[18] Unlike interpreted languages, compiled programs have no ongoing dependency on the compiler during execution; once built, the output—whether binary or bytecode—runs independently on the target environment. This separation means that end-users do not need the development tools installed, allowing for efficient distribution and deployment of self-contained applications. The compile-once, run-many model thus shifts all translation and analysis burdens to the build phase, streamlining runtime behavior.^[19]^[20]

Compilation Process

Stages of Compilation

The compilation process transforms high-level source code into executable machine code through a series of distinct stages, each performing a specific transformation while preserving the program's intended meaning.^[21] These stages typically include preprocessing, lexical analysis, syntax analysis, semantic analysis, intermediate code generation, optimization passes, assembly, and linking, with optimization often integrated throughout to enhance efficiency.^[22]^[23] Preprocessing is the initial stage, particularly in languages like C and C++, where the preprocessor handles directives such as #include for file inclusion, #define for macro expansion, and conditional compilation.^[23] It expands macros, removes comments, and substitutes text, producing modified source code that is cleaner for subsequent analysis, while reporting errors like missing include files.^[21] For example, #include <stdio.h> inserts the contents of the header file at that point. Lexical analysis, also known as scanning, follows preprocessing and reads the source code as a stream of characters, grouping them into meaningful units called tokens, such as identifiers, keywords, operators, and literals.^[21] This phase uses finite automata or regular expressions to recognize patterns, removes extraneous elements like whitespace and comments, and reports lexical errors, such as invalid characters, thereby producing a simplified token stream for subsequent processing.^[24] For instance, the sequence "int x = 5;" might yield tokens for the keyword "int", identifier "x", operator "=", and literal "5".^[22] Syntax analysis, or parsing, examines the token stream to verify adherence to the language's grammatical rules, constructing an abstract syntax tree (AST) that represents the hierarchical structure of the program.^[21] Employing context-free grammars, this stage applies top-down or bottom-up parsing algorithms to group tokens into syntactic constructs like expressions or statements, detecting errors such as mismatched parentheses or invalid statement sequences.^[24] The resulting AST abstracts away irrelevant details, facilitating further analysis; for example, an arithmetic expression like "a + b * c" is parsed to reflect operator precedence with multiplication above addition.^[22] Semantic analysis then traverses the AST to enforce meaning beyond syntax, including type checking, scope resolution, and declaration verification to ensure the program's logical consistency.^[21] Using symbol tables to track identifiers' attributes like types and scopes, this phase identifies errors such as undeclared variables or type mismatches—for instance, assigning a string to an integer variable—and may perform type coercion where permitted.^[24] It augments the AST with semantic information, ensuring the code is semantically valid before proceeding.^[22] Code generation translates the semantically verified AST into an intermediate representation (IR), such as three-address code, bridging high-level constructs toward low-level instructions.^[21] Common IR forms break expressions into simple operations like temporary variable assignments (e.g., "t1 = b * c"), which are later mapped to assembly instructions considering registers and addressing modes.^[22] This stage often produces assembly code as output.^[23] Assembly converts the assembly code generated by the compiler into machine-readable object files containing relocatable machine code.^[23] The assembler translates mnemonic instructions (e.g., "MOV AX, 5") into binary opcodes and handles directives for data sections, producing object files in formats like ELF or COFF that include unresolved symbols for later linking.^[21] Errors such as invalid instructions are reported during this phase. Linking resolves references across multiple object files and libraries, combining them into a single executable file.^[23] It performs symbol resolution, relocation (adjusting addresses), and library integration, such as connecting calls to standard functions like printf, while detecting errors like undefined symbols.^[21] The result is a standalone executable ready for direct hardware execution. Optimization passes are interwoven across these stages to refine the code for performance, applying transformations like constant folding (evaluating compile-time constants) or loop unrolling (expanding loops to reduce overhead) on the IR or AST.^[21] These techniques, often guided by data-flow analysis, eliminate redundancies—such as removing dead code or propagating constants—without altering program semantics, potentially reducing execution time significantly in critical sections.^[24] For example, simplifying "x = 5 + 0" to "x = 5" during constant folding streamlines the final machine code.^[22]

Role of the Compiler

The compiler serves as the central translator in compiled languages, converting high-level source code into a lower-level target representation, typically machine code or an intermediate form suitable for execution on a specific hardware platform.^[19] This process involves rigorous syntax analysis to verify adherence to the language's grammatical rules, semantic analysis to ensure logical consistency such as type compatibility and variable scoping, and optimization passes to enhance performance by eliminating redundancies, reordering instructions, or applying algorithmic improvements. Through these checks, the compiler identifies and reports issues early in the development cycle, preventing runtime failures and enabling more efficient code.^[19] Compilers are categorized by their target and execution model, including native compilers that generate code for the same architecture on which they run, cross-compilers that produce output for a different target platform to facilitate development across diverse hardware, and ahead-of-time (AOT) compilers that pre-compile source code to native executables before program deployment.^[19] Native compilers simplify the build process on homogeneous systems, while cross-compilers address portability challenges in multi-architecture environments, such as embedded systems or software distribution.^[25] AOT compilation contrasts with runtime approaches by delivering fully optimized binaries upfront, reducing startup latency at the cost of build-time resources.^[19] To manage platform dependencies, compilers generate architecture-specific code, incorporating details like instruction sets, memory models, and calling conventions for targets such as x86-64 or ARM.^[19] This includes linking object modules with system libraries to resolve external references, such as function calls to standard I/O routines, and producing standalone executables in formats like ELF that encapsulate code, data, and metadata for direct loading by the operating system.^[19] Such executables are self-contained, platform-bound artifacts that execute without further translation. Compilers enhance developer productivity through comprehensive error reporting, leveraging abstract syntax trees (ASTs) to pinpoint issues with precise source locations, line numbers, and contextual explanations for syntax violations, type mismatches, or undeclared identifiers.^[19] Debugging support is integrated via generation of symbolic information, including symbol tables for variable tracking and debug symbols that enable tools to map machine instructions back to source code, facilitating breakpoints, stack traces, and variable inspection during runtime analysis.^[19] These features, often embedded in the executable or separate debug files, allow for iterative refinement without recompiling from scratch.^[19]

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

Compiled languages offer superior runtime performance because the source code is translated into machine code prior to execution, eliminating the interpretation overhead that occurs in other execution models.^[9] This direct execution by the hardware results in faster program speeds, as the translation cost is incurred only once during compilation and amortized over multiple runs.^[2] A key benefit is the ability to detect errors at compile time, which reduces the occurrence of runtime bugs and enhances overall code reliability.^[26] Features like static typing, common in compiled languages, allow the compiler to identify type mismatches, syntax issues, and other semantic errors before the program runs, saving development time and preventing unexpected failures.^[19] This early validation is particularly valuable in large-scale projects where catching issues promptly minimizes debugging efforts.^[26] Compilers enable optimizations tailored to specific hardware architectures, leading to more efficient use of resources such as memory and CPU cycles.^[27] Through techniques like instruction scheduling and code reshaping, the compiler can reduce power consumption and improve execution efficiency by aligning the generated code closely with the target processor's capabilities.^[28] For instance, target-specific transformations, such as delayed branching or conditional moves, exploit hardware features to minimize unnecessary operations.^[28] Executables produced by compiled languages have a smaller deployment footprint since no interpreter or runtime environment is required on the target system.^[7] This self-contained nature simplifies distribution, as the binary file alone suffices for execution, without needing additional software components that could increase size or complexity.^[2]

Disadvantages

Compiled languages often involve longer build cycles compared to interpreted alternatives, as any change to the source code typically requires a full recompilation process before the program can be executed or tested. This edit-compile-test loop can introduce significant delays, particularly in large projects where compilation may take minutes or even hours, slowing down iterative development and debugging workflows.^[2]^[20]^[29] Another key limitation is the platform-specific nature of the resulting binaries, which are tailored to particular hardware architectures, operating systems, or instruction sets, necessitating separate recompilations for each target environment. This reduces portability, as a program compiled for one system, such as x86 on Windows, cannot run directly on another, like ARM on Linux, without rebuilding from the source code.^[30]^[29] Compiled languages generally impose a steeper learning curve on developers due to their strict syntax rules, static type systems, and requirements for explicit memory management or low-level control. For instance, languages like C demand proficiency in handling pointers and manual resource allocation, which can be error-prone and challenging for beginners transitioning from more forgiving environments.^[31]^[32] Additionally, compiled languages face challenges in supporting dynamic features, such as runtime code modification, dynamic typing, or hot-swapping components without restarting the application. These limitations stem from the ahead-of-time translation to machine code, which prioritizes optimization over flexibility and makes on-the-fly adjustments difficult or impossible in standard implementations.^[20]^[30]

Examples of Compiled Languages

Early Examples

One of the earliest examples of a compiled language was Autocode, developed in 1952 by Alick Glennie for the Manchester Mark 1 computer at the University of Manchester.^[33] This system represented a pioneering effort to automate the translation of higher-level instructions into machine code, moving beyond manual assembly programming by generating code for specific subroutines like input/output and arithmetic operations.^[33] Autocode's compiler-like functionality allowed programmers to write in a more abstract form, significantly reducing the time and errors associated with low-level coding on early hardware.^[34] In 1957, John Backus led a team at IBM to create FORTRAN (Formula Translation), the first widely adopted compiled language optimized for scientific and engineering computations.^[35] FORTRAN introduced algebraic notation that mirrored mathematical expressions, enabling scientists to express complex formulas directly without delving into machine-specific details.^[36] Its innovative optimizing compiler performed advanced transformations, such as common subexpression elimination and index register allocation, which generated efficient machine code comparable to hand-optimized assembly while achieving up to 80% of the performance of expert-written code.^[36] This breakthrough made numerical simulations and data analysis accessible to non-programmers in fields like physics and aerodynamics.^[37] COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language), standardized in 1959 by the Conference on Data Systems Languages (CODASYL), emerged as a compiled language tailored for business data processing.^[38] Designed with input from industry leaders including Grace Hopper, it prioritized English-like readability to bridge the gap between business users and technical staff, using verbose syntax for record handling and report generation.^[39] COBOL's structure emphasized hierarchical data organization, such as fixed-length fields for payroll and inventory records, which facilitated the automation of large-scale commercial transactions on mainframe systems.^[40] Its compiler ensured portable, efficient execution across vendors, supporting the growth of enterprise computing.^[38] These early compiled languages collectively drove a profound shift in computing from tedious assembly language programming to higher-level abstractions, democratizing software development and enabling broader applications in science and business.^[36] By automating code generation and optimization, they reduced development time by factors of 10 to 100 compared to assembly, fostering the expansion of programmable computers beyond elite specialists.^[41] This transition laid the groundwork for modern software engineering practices.^[34]

Modern Examples

C remains a cornerstone of modern systems programming despite its origins in the 1970s, prized for its low-level control over hardware resources and portability across platforms. Developers leverage C for operating systems, device drivers, and embedded software where direct memory manipulation and efficiency are paramount. The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) serves as a primary compiler, supporting C's compilation to native machine code with optimizations for performance-critical applications, and it continues to evolve through community-driven releases that enhance compatibility with contemporary architectures.^[42] C++ extends C with object-oriented features, enabling encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism while retaining procedural capabilities, thus supporting multiple programming paradigms including generic and functional styles. This versatility makes C++ ideal for complex software development, such as high-performance simulations, desktop applications, and real-time systems. In the gaming industry, C++ powers engines like Unreal Engine due to its balance of abstraction and fine-grained control over graphics and physics computations.^[43]^[44] Rust, introduced in 2010, prioritizes memory safety through its ownership model and borrow checker, which enforce rules at compile time to prevent common errors like data races and null pointer dereferences without relying on garbage collection. This approach allows Rust to deliver C-like performance while eliminating entire classes of vulnerabilities, making it suitable for systems programming in browsers, cloud infrastructure, and blockchain applications. The borrow checker analyzes code for lifetime constraints, ensuring references do not outlive their data, thus providing compile-time guarantees of thread safety and resource management.^[45] Go, developed in 2009, emphasizes simplicity in syntax and built-in support for concurrency via goroutines and channels, facilitating scalable networked applications with minimal boilerplate. Its compiler produces statically linked binaries that deploy easily across environments, contributing to its adoption in cloud services for building microservices and distributed systems at companies like Google and Uber. Go's design promotes readable, maintainable code for concurrent tasks, such as handling thousands of simultaneous connections in web servers.^[46] As of 2025, modern compiled languages increasingly focus on integrating safety mechanisms, such as Rust's borrow checking, with high performance to address vulnerabilities in legacy codebases, while WebAssembly (Wasm) enables seamless execution of these languages in web browsers and edge computing environments for portable, near-native speed applications.^[47]^[48]

Comparison with Other Execution Models

Versus Interpreted Languages

Compiled languages differ fundamentally from interpreted languages in their execution models. In compiled languages, the source code is translated by a compiler into machine code or an intermediate representation, such as bytecode, prior to runtime, resulting in a binary executable that the computer's processor can run directly without further translation.^[49] This pre-compilation step allows for efficient execution, as the translation overhead occurs only once during the build process.^[50] In contrast, interpreted languages execute source code line-by-line at runtime through an interpreter, which reads and translates each instruction on the fly, incurring repeated translation costs every time the program runs.^[2] This runtime interpretation enables immediate execution but often leads to slower overall performance compared to compiled binaries.^[49] The development process in compiled languages typically involves slower iteration cycles due to the mandatory build step, where changes to the source code require recompilation before testing, which can take significant time for large projects.^[50] Interpreted languages, however, provide immediate feedback, as code can be run directly without compilation, facilitating rapid prototyping and easier modifications, especially for applications with frequent changes.^[10] This contrast makes compiled languages less ideal for quick development iterations but more suitable for stable, optimized codebases.^[51] Compiled languages are commonly used in performance-critical applications, such as operating system kernels, where direct machine code execution ensures high efficiency and low latency; for example, the Linux kernel is written in C, a compiled language, to achieve optimal hardware utilization.^[52] Interpreted languages, on the other hand, excel in scripting and web development scenarios, where ease of use and flexibility outweigh raw speed; languages like JavaScript and Python are prevalent for dynamic web applications and automation tasks due to their interpretive nature supporting quick script execution.^[7] Regarding portability, compiled languages produce platform-specific binaries that require recompilation for different architectures or operating systems, limiting direct transferability of executables.^[49] Interpreted languages offer greater source-level portability, as the same source code can run on any system with a compatible interpreter, abstracting hardware differences and simplifying deployment across environments.^[50] This makes interpreted approaches advantageous for cross-platform scripting but dependent on interpreter availability.^[51]

Hybrid Approaches

Hybrid approaches in programming languages combine elements of compilation and interpretation to leverage the strengths of both paradigms, such as achieving platform independence while enabling runtime optimizations. These methods typically involve an initial compilation step to an intermediate representation, followed by interpretation, just-in-time (JIT) compilation, or further processing at runtime. This blending addresses limitations like the lack of portability in pure ahead-of-time compilation and the performance overhead of pure interpretation.^[53] Bytecode compilation represents a foundational hybrid technique where source code is translated into platform-agnostic bytecode, an intermediate form that can then be interpreted or compiled to native code at runtime. In Java, the javac compiler produces bytecode stored in .class files, which the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) executes either through interpretation or JIT compilation for improved efficiency. This approach ensures code portability across diverse hardware and operating systems without recompilation, as the JVM handles the final translation to machine-specific instructions. Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation extends hybrid models by dynamically compiling bytecode or interpreted code into native machine code during program execution, based on runtime profiling to optimize hot paths. For instance, the V8 JavaScript engine, used in Node.js and Chrome, employs multiple JIT stages—including Ignition for initial interpretation and TurboFan for advanced optimizations—to accelerate JavaScript execution, often achieving near-native performance after warmup. This technique allows for adaptive optimizations that pure static compilation cannot perform, such as inlining based on actual usage patterns.^[54]^[55] Transpilers, or source-to-source compilers, form another hybrid variant by compiling code from one high-level language to another, typically targeting a more widely executable form without altering the execution model fundamentally. TypeScript, a superset of JavaScript, uses the tsc transpiler to convert its type-annotated source into standard JavaScript, preserving features like static typing during development while ensuring compatibility with existing JavaScript runtimes and interpreters. This enables developers to use advanced language constructs while relying on mature ecosystems for execution. The .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) exemplifies an integrated hybrid system, compiling languages like C# to Common Intermediate Language (CIL) bytecode, which is then JIT-compiled to native code at runtime, with ongoing enhancements in .NET 9 (released November 2024) improving tiered compilation for faster startup and better power efficiency. As of 2025 servicing updates, the CLR continues to balance these elements through features like ready-to-run (R2R) compilation, which pre-JITs portions of code for reduced runtime overhead.^[53] These hybrid approaches offer key benefits, including enhanced portability through intermediate representations that abstract hardware differences, and superior performance via runtime optimizations that adapt to real-world execution contexts. For example, bytecode and JIT combinations in JVM and CLR environments have demonstrated significant speedups, often 2-10x or more, over pure interpretation in benchmarks for compute-intensive tasks, while maintaining cross-platform deployment ease.^[56] Such methods mitigate the binary trade-offs of pure models, enabling scalable applications in diverse domains like web development and enterprise software.^[57]

History

Origins

In the 1940s, computing was dominated by machine code programming on early electronic computers like the ENIAC, which required programmers to manually set thousands of switches and plugs to configure operations directly on the hardware.^[58] This approach, while effective for basic numerical tasks, was extremely labor-intensive, prone to human error, and ill-suited for the complex, iterative calculations needed in scientific and military contexts, such as artillery trajectory computations during World War II.^[58] By the late 1940s, rudimentary assembly languages emerged as a minor improvement, using symbolic representations of machine instructions to slightly ease the burden, but they still demanded intimate knowledge of the underlying hardware architecture.^[59] The push for higher-level abstractions led to the invention of early compiler systems in the early 1950s, driven by the limitations of low-level programming on increasingly capable but still resource-constrained machines. In 1951–1952, Grace Hopper and her team at Remington Rand developed the A-0 system for the UNIVAC I, an innovative program that automated the assembly of subroutines into executable code, functioning as a hybrid assembler and linker that laid foundational concepts for compilation.^[60] This marked a pivotal shift toward "automatic programming," where software could generate machine code from more abstract specifications, reducing the manual translation effort required previously.^[60] Concurrently in 1952, Alick Glennie at the University of Manchester created Autocode for the Mark 1 computer, widely regarded as the first true compiled programming language, which translated simple higher-level statements directly into machine instructions via a dedicated compiler.^[61] These innovations were primarily motivated by the urgent need to minimize programming errors and accelerate development time for intricate scientific and military applications, where even minor mistakes could invalidate extensive computations on expensive, limited hardware.^[62] By abstracting away hardware specifics, compilers enabled faster iteration and broader accessibility for non-expert programmers tackling problems in fields like physics simulations and defense modeling.^[62]

Development and Evolution

In the 1960s and 1970s, compiled languages evolved toward structured programming paradigms, emphasizing block structures, control flows, and modularity to improve code readability and maintainability. ALGOL 60, introduced in 1960, pioneered these concepts with its block structure and influenced subsequent languages, including C, developed by Dennis Ritchie at Bell Labs in 1972 as a systems programming language that adopted ALGOL's structured elements while targeting Unix development.^[63]^[63] Concurrently, IBM released PL/I in 1964 as a multi-paradigm language designed to unify scientific computing from FORTRAN, algorithmic precision from ALGOL, and business applications from COBOL, supporting both structured and procedural styles in enterprise environments.^[64] The 1980s and 1990s saw compiled languages adapt to object-oriented programming to address escalating software complexity driven by the personal computing revolution, where applications grew larger and more interconnected on platforms like MS-DOS and early Windows. C++, created by Bjarne Stroustrup in 1985 as an extension of C, introduced classes, inheritance, and polymorphism, enabling direct compilation to machine code while managing modular designs for complex systems.^[65] In the mid-1990s, Java, developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995, advanced this trend by compiling source code to platform-independent bytecode executed on the Java Virtual Machine, facilitating cross-platform deployment amid the rise of networked personal computing.^[66] These developments responded to the need for reusable code in increasingly sophisticated software ecosystems.^[67] From the 2000s to 2025, compiled languages prioritized memory safety, concurrency, and interoperability, reflecting demands from multicore processors, cloud computing, and web applications. The LLVM compiler framework, initiated by Chris Lattner in December 2000 at the University of Illinois, revolutionized backend optimization by providing modular, reusable libraries that supported multiple frontends and targets, influencing languages like C++ and Swift.^[68] Go, designed at Google in 2007 by Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson and released open-source in 2009, emphasized simplicity, efficient concurrency via goroutines, and fast compilation for scalable server-side systems.^[69]^[70] Rust, originating as Graydon Hoare's side project in 2006 and sponsored by Mozilla from 2009, achieved stable release in 2015 with its ownership model ensuring memory safety and thread safety without garbage collection, gaining adoption for systems programming.^[71] WebAssembly, announced in 2015 by the W3C and major browser vendors and standardized as a recommendation in 2019, enabled high-performance compiled code to run securely in web browsers, bridging languages like C++, Rust, and Go with JavaScript ecosystems.^[72]^[73] Continuing this evolution, the ISO C23 standard was published in October 2024, introducing features like improved Unicode support and bit-precise integers for enhanced portability and safety, while C++23, finalized in 2023, added modules and coroutines to streamline large-scale development.^[74]^[43] Key milestones included standardization efforts, such as the ANSI X3.159-1989 C standard ratified in December 1989, which formalized C's syntax and semantics for portable compilation across systems.^[75] The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), first released in 1987 by Richard Stallman, democratized access through open-source implementation, supporting C and later languages while fostering widespread adoption in academia and industry.^[76]

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Fortran (short for formula translation) became the first computer language standard. It helped open the door to modern computing.Missing: algebraic | Show results with:algebraic
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[PDF] The History of Fortran I, II, and III by John Backus
It describes the development of the optimizing compiler for Fortran I, of various language manuals, and of Fortran II and III. It concludes with re- marks about ...
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John Backus & Team Develop FORTRAN, the First Widely Used ...
Mr. Backus and his youthful team, then all in their 20s and 30s, devised a programming language that resembled a combination of English shorthand and algebra.
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What Is COBOL? - IBM
COBOL was developed by a consortium of government and business organizations called the Conference on Data Systems Languages (CODASYL), which formed in 1959.
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[PDF] History of COBOL - UMBC
Feb 4, 2000 · • COBOL was developed in 1959 by the Conference on Data Systems Languages ... COBOL is designed for developing business, typically file-oriented, ...
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COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) - TechTarget
Oct 8, 2021 · History of COBOL. In 1959, COBOL-60 was developed by the Conference on Data Systems Language (CODASYL). IBM announced that COBOL would be ...
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[PDF] Influence of Language Evolution and Compiler Advances on ...
The transition from low-level to high-level programming languages has revolutionized programming by increasing abstraction and efficiency, making code more ...
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GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection - GNU Project
The GNU Compiler Collection includes front ends for C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran, Ada, Go, D, Modula-2, and COBOL as well as libraries for these languages.
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The Standard - Standard C++
The current ISO C++ standard is C++23, formally known as ISO International Standard ISO/IEC 14882:2024(E) – Programming Language C++.
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Introduction to C++ Programming Language - The New Stack
Feb 11, 2025 · Multi-paradigm programming: C++ is a robust multi-paradigm programming language that supports object-oriented, procedural and generic ...
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Understanding Ownership - The Rust Programming Language
In this chapter, we'll talk about ownership as well as several related features: borrowing, slices, and how Rust lays data out in memory.
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The Go Programming Language
An open-source programming language supported by Google. Easy to learn and great for teams. Built-in concurrency and a robust standard library.Missing: simplicity | Show results with:simplicity
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https://www.rust-lang.org/
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See What WebAssembly Can Do in 2025 - The New Stack
Jan 3, 2025 · By 2025, WebAssembly modules will be able to integrate applications written in the language of your choice deployed across any environment or device.
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[PDF] Compiled & Interpreted Languages - Millersville University
A parser takes the sequence of tokens and builds a tree structure that mirrors the grammar. • Programming language experts call these tree structures ...
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Compiled versus interpreted languages - IBM
Compiled languages are translated once for efficient execution, while interpreted languages are parsed each time, resulting in higher overhead and less ...
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The structure and performance of interpreters - ACM Digital Library
Interpreted languages have become increasingly popular due to de- mands for rapid program development, ease of use, portability, and safety.
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[PDF] The benefits and costs of writing a POSIX kernel in a high-level ...
Oct 8, 2018 · The default language for operating system kernels is C: Linux, macOS, and Windows all use C. C is popular for kernels because it can deliver ...
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Managed Execution Process - .NET - Microsoft Learn
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The V8 JavaScript Engine - Node.js
JavaScript is internally compiled by V8 with just-in-time (JIT) compilation to speed up the execution. This might seem counter-intuitive, but since the ...
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Maglev - V8's Fastest Optimizing JIT - V8 JavaScript engine
Dec 5, 2023 · V8's newest compiler, Maglev, improves performance while reducing power consumption.
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[PDF] AOT Vs. JIT: Impact of Profile Data on Code Quality - UTK-EECS
Load-time compilation happens when the program is first installed on the device, and is an instance of the so-called ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation model.
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Programming the ENIAC: an example of why computer history is hard
May 18, 2016 · Because ENIAC had very little writeable electronic memory, the coded instructions were stored in “function tables,” banks of 10-position ...
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[PDF] 15-411/611 Compiler Design
‣ 1952: A-0, term 'compiler' (Grace Hopper). ‣ 1952: Autocode, first implemented compiler (Alick Glennie). ‣ 1957: FORTRAN, first commercial compiler (John ...
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Milestones:A-0 Compiler and Initial Development of Automatic ...
Oct 4, 2024 · During 1951-1952, Grace Hopper invented the A-0 Compiler, a series of specifications that functioned as a linker/loader.
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Did Grace Hopper Create the First Compiler?
Dec 21, 2022 · Glennie mention the name Autocode. According to Christopher S ... Alick Glennie lays claim to the first true compiler that actually ...
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https://cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/did-grace-hopper-create-the-first-compiler/
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[PDF] Evolution of the Major Programming Languages
• Less usage than ALGOL 60. • Had strong influence on subsequent languages, especially Pascal, C, and. Ada. Page 58. Pascal - 1971. • Developed by Wirth (a ...
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Lessons from PL/I: A Most Ambitious Programming Language
IBM designed PL/I with the goal of bringing together the power of three programming languages: FORTRAN (1954), ALGOL (1958), and COBOL (1959).Missing: compiled structured
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Software & Languages | Timeline of Computer History
The C++ programming language emerges as the dominant object-oriented language in the computer industry when Bjarne Stroustrup publishes the book The C++ ...
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A Brief History of Object-Oriented Programming - UTK-EECS
In the early 1990s a group at Sun led by James Gosling developed a simpler version of C++ called Java that was meant to be a programming language for video-on- ...Missing: compiled complexity
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Object Oriented Programming Concepts And Principles Explained
Jul 12, 2021 · This approach to programming went from the academic world of the 1960s to the computer boom of the 1980s because of its modularity.
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The Architecture of Open Source Applications (Volume 1)LLVM
From its beginning in December 2000, LLVM was designed as a set of reusable libraries with well-defined interfaces [LA04]. At the time, open source programming ...
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Go at Google: Language Design in the Service of Software ...
The Go programming language was conceived in late 2007 as an answer to some of the problems we were seeing developing software infrastructure at Google.
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The Go Programming Language and Environment
May 1, 2022 · Go is a programming language created at Google in late 2007 and released as open source in November 2009. Since then, it has operated as a public project.
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Mozilla Welcomes the Rust Foundation
Feb 8, 2021 · Rust is an open-source programming language focused on safety, speed and concurrency. It started life as a side project in Mozilla Research.
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What is WebAssembly and where did it come from? | Articles - web.dev
Jun 29, 2023 · Announced in 2015 and first released in March 2017, WebAssembly became a W3C recommendation on December 5, 2019.asm.js · WebAssembly · Textual representation · Compiling to WebAssembly
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World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) brings a new language to the ...
Dec 5, 2019 · Following HTML, CSS and JavaScript, WebAssembly becomes the fourth language for the Web which allows code to run in the browser.<|separator|>
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[PDF] for information systems - programming language - C
This document was approved as an American National Standard by the American. National Standards Institute (ANSI) on December 14, 1989. Suggestions for ...
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History - GCC Wiki
A brief history of GCC. The very first (beta) release of GCC (then known as the "GNU C Compiler") was made on 22 March 1987.