👉 Compilation is the process where a high-level programming language, such as C++ or Python, is translated into machine code that a computer's processor can execute directly. This translation is performed by a compiler, which reads the source code line by line and converts it into binary instructions. Compilation involves several stages, including lexical analysis (breaking the code into tokens), syntax analysis (checking for grammatical correctness), semantic analysis (understanding the meaning of the code), optimization (improving efficiency), and code generation (creating machine code). Unlike interpretation, where code is executed line by line at runtime, compilation converts the entire program into machine code beforehand, resulting in faster execution but requiring more upfront compilation time. This process is crucial for optimizing performance and enabling efficient use of hardware resources in software development.
