[W/K] :: interpreter

  Interpreter \In*ter"pret*er\, n. [Cf. OF. entrepreteur, L.
     interpretator.]
     One who or that which interprets, explains, or expounds; a
     translator; especially, a person who translates orally
     between two parties.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           We think most men's actions to be the interpreters of
           their thoughts.                          --Locke.
     [1913 Webster]

  interpreter
       n 1: someone who mediates between speakers of different languages
            [syn: translator]
       2: someone who uses art to represent something; "his paintings
          reveal a sensitive interpreter of nature"; "she was famous
          as an interpreter of Shakespearean roles"
       3: an advocate who represents someone else's policy or purpose;
          "the meeting was attended by spokespersons for all the
          major organs of government" [syn: spokesperson, representative,
           voice]
       4: (computer science) a program that translates and executes
          source language statements one line at a time [syn: interpretive
          program]

  52 Moby Thesaurus words for "interpreter":
     allegorist, annotator, artist, artiste, cicerone, clarifier,
     commentator, concert artist, critic, cryptanalyst, cryptographer,
     cryptologist, decoder, definer, demonstrator, demythologizer,
     diaskeuast, dragoman, editor, emendator, emender, euhemerist,
     executant, exegesist, exegete, exegetist, explainer, explicator,
     exponent, expositor, expounder, go-between, guide, hermeneut,
     lexicographer, maestro, metaphrast, minstrel, minstrelsy,
     music maker, musician, oneirocritic, paraphrast, performer, player,
     scholiast, soloist, textual critic, translator, tunester, virtuosa,
     virtuoso
  
  

  interpreter
       
           A program which executes other programs.  This
          is in contrast to a compiler which does not execute its
          input program (the "{source code") but translates it into
          executable "{machine code" (also called "{object code}")
          which is output to a file for later execution.  It may be
          possible to execute the same source code either directly by an
          interpreter or by compiling it and then executing the machine
          code produced.
       
          It takes longer to run a program under an interpreter than to
          run the compiled code but it can take less time to interpret
          it than the total required to compile and run it.  This is
          especially important when prototyping and testing code when an
          edit-interpret-debug cycle can often be much shorter than an
          edit-compile-run-debug cycle.
       
          Interpreting code is slower than running the compiled code
          because the interpreter must analyse each statement in the
          program each time it is executed and then perform the desired
          action whereas the compiled code just performs the action.
          This run-time analysis is known as "interpretive overhead".
          Access to variables is also slower in an interpreter because
          the mapping of identifiers to storage locations must be done
          repeatedly at run time rather than at compile time.
       
          There are various compromises between the development speed
          when using an interpreter and the execution speed when using a
          compiler.  Some systems (e.g. some Lisps) allow interpreted
          and compiled code to call each other and to share variables.
          This means that once a routine has been tested and debugged
          under the interpreter it can be compiled and thus benefit from
          faster execution while other routines are being developed.
          Many interpreters do not execute the source code as it stands
          but convert it into some more compact internal form.  For
          example, some BASIC interpreters replace keywords with
          single byte tokens which can be used to index into a jump
          table.  An interpreter might well use the same lexical
          analyser and parser as the compiler and then interpret the
          resulting abstract syntax tree.
       
          There is thus a spectrum of possibilities between interpreting
          and compiling, depending on the amount of analysis performed
          before the program is executed.  For example Emacs Lisp is
          compiled to "{byte-code" which is a highly compressed and
          optimised representation of the Lisp source but is not machine
          code (and therefore not tied to any particular hardware).
          This "compiled" code is then executed (interpreted) by a byte
          code interpreter (itself written in C).  The compiled code
          in this case is machine code for a virtual machine which
          is implemented not in hardware but in the byte-code
          interpreter.
       
          See also partial evaluation.
       
          (1995-01-30)
       
       

  INTERPRETER. One employed to make a translation. (q v.)
       2. An interpreter should be sworn before he translates the testimony of 
  a witness. 4 Mass. 81; 5 Mass. 219; 2 Caines' Rep. 155. 
       3. A person employed between an attorney and client to act as 
  interpreter, is considered merely as the organ between them, and is not 
  bound to testify as to what be has acquired in those confidential 
  communications. 1 Pet. C. C. R.. 356; 4 Munf. R. 273; 1 Wend. R. 337. Vide 
  Confidential Communications. 
  
  

  INTERPRETER, n.  One who enables two persons of different languages to
  understand each other by repeating to each what it would have been to
  the interpreter's advantage for the other to have said.