4 ms·

Well, ok, but then isn't a CPU is also just an interpreter, traversing the object code text of compiled code?

• chrisseaton 4y ago
  We don't normally call hardware or firmware implementations an 'interpreter'. Almost all execution techniques include some combination of compilation and interpretation. Even some ASTs include aspects of transformation to construct them from the source code, which we could call a compiler. Native compilers sometimes have to interpret metadata to do things like roll forward for deoptimisation. But most people in the field would describe CPython firmly as an 'interpreter'.
  • zzzeek 4y ago
    I call it "bytecode interpreted" to distinguish it from traditional parse-tree interpretation such as Perl 5 and others
    • deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]