Programming

Programming is telling a computer how to do certain things by giving it instructions. These instructions are called programs. A person who writes instructions is a computer programmer. These instructions come in different languages; they are called programming languages. Sometimes programmers use special software which helps them to make programs, and sometimes they use simpler software, called a text editor, which only gives them a place to type.

Compiler

A program is a set of instructions for the computer to follow. Making these instructions in "computer form" would be tedious and difficult, so instructions are written in quasi-English, which has to be turned into "computer form" instructions so the computer can follow them. A compiler is what we call the translator from the half-English language to the computer language. Some languages, called interpreted languages, use interpreters instead of compilers.

Executables

Once a program has been compiled, the instructions in "machine form" are written into a file that contains a series of numbers that the computer can understand. These files are generally called "executables". These machine-instructions will be loaded into the computer's memory so that the CPU can run them when the executable is opened.