SIMPLY
STATED
A
COMPILER
IS
A
PROGRAM
THAT
READS
A
PROGRAM
WRITTEN
IN
ONE
LANGUAGE
THE
SOURCE
LANGUAGE
AND
TRANSLATES
IT
INTO
AN
EQUIVALENT
PROGRAM
IN
ANOTHER
LANGUAGE
THE
TARGET
LANGUAGE
AS
AN
IMPORTANT
PART
OF
THIS
TRANSLATION
PROCESS
THE
COMPILER
REPORTS
TO
ITS
USER
THE
PRESENCE
OF
ERRORS
IN
THE
SOURCE
PROGRAM
AT
FIRST
GLANCE
THE
VARIETY
OF
COMPILERS
MAY
APPEAR
OVERWHELMING
THERE
ARE
THOUSANDS
OF
SOURCE
LANGUAGES
RANGING
FROM
TRADITIONAL
PROGRAMMING
LANGUAGES
SUCH
AS
FORTRAN
AND
PASCAL
TO
SPECIALIZED
LANGUAGES
THAT
HAVE
ARISEN
IN
VIRTUALLY
EVERY
AREA
OF
COMPUTER
APPLICATION