The purpose of translators
Introduction
We know that processors are digital devices and use machine code. We know that humans find it hard to write in machine code, preferring instead to write in a high level language. A high level language program, however, is not in machine code and therefore the processor cannot run the program as it stands. It needs to 'translate' it.
Translators
When a program is written in a high level language, it has to be converted into machine code instructions, so that the processor can actually run it. This is the job of a 'translator' program.
Source code - translator - object code
A translator program takes the original high level language program, which is more commonly called the 'source code ' or the 'source file' and converts it into the equivalent machine code instructions. The converted code is commonly known as the 'object code'. This object code can then be run by a computer's processor.