Vocabulary
All specializations have their own vocabulary, and programming is no exception. Here are a few words that you might find helpful in understanding the text and its context.
- Compiler: Computers execute binary programs expressed as
1s and0s. Humans write programs in a high-level language such as Python that is close to plain English. Before a high-level language program can be executed, a piece of software called a compiler translates it into binary code. When you run a Python program on your computer, your source code is automatically translated into machine code by a compiler working with the operating system. Mercifully, you don’t have to worry about all the actions that take place invisibly in the background during compilation. - Syntax error: Like a human language, a program is made up of sentences that conform to a set of rules called grammar. If a sentence has an error, so it does not conform to the grammar, it is called a syntax error. If I said, ...
