object code Last modified: Friday, June 21, 2002
The code produced by a compiler. Programmers write programs in a form called source code. The source code consists of instructions in a particular language, like C or FORTRAN. Computers, however, can only execute instructions written in a low-level language called machine language. To get from source code to machine language, the programs must be transformed by a compiler. The compiler produces an intermediary form called object code. Object code is often the same as or similar to a computer's machine language. The final step in producing an executable program is to transform the object code into machine language, if it is not already in this form. This can be done by a number of different types of programs, called assemblers, binders, linkers, and loaders.

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assembler assembly language code compile cross-compiler library link load machine language source code

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