Here's a breakdown of what it means:
* Source code: This is the original, human-readable form of a program written in a high-level language.
* Compiler: A program that takes source code as input and translates it into machine code.
* Machine code: A set of instructions written in binary (0s and 1s) that a computer's processor can understand and execute.
The benefits of compiled code:
* Faster execution: Compiled code runs faster than interpreted code because it's directly executed by the computer's processor.
* More efficient: Compiled programs often use less memory and resources.
* Security: Compiled code is harder to reverse engineer, making it more secure.
Example:
Imagine you write a program in Python to calculate the area of a circle. This is your source code. When you run the program, a Python interpreter reads your code line by line and executes it. However, if you were to compile your Python code into machine code, a specialized compiler would translate it into a set of instructions that the computer's processor can directly understand and run.
In contrast to compiled code, interpreted code is executed line by line without being converted to machine code beforehand.
Overall, "compiled" signifies a process of translating high-level code into a form that a computer can understand and execute efficiently.