A Level Computer Science OCR Practice Exam

What advantage does an interpreter have over a compiler when handling errors?

1. It can run code faster

2. It can identify errors without recompilation

3. It compiles the entire code before execution

4. It generates an object code

The correct answer is: It can identify errors without recompilation

An interpreter offers the significant advantage of being able to identify errors in code without requiring a recompilation. This means that as the interpreter processes the code line by line, it can stop at the point where an error occurs and provide immediate feedback to the programmer. This immediate feedback facilitates quicker debugging, allowing developers to make corrections and re-test their code far more efficiently compared to a compiler, which requires the entire program to be compiled before any errors can be identified. In contrast, the other options do not align with the capabilities of an interpreter. An interpreter does not run code faster; in fact, it may run slower than a compiled program since it processes each line at runtime. Additionally, an interpreter processes code dynamically, executing it line by line, rather than compiling the entire code before execution. Furthermore, an interpreter does not generate object code, as that is a characteristic of compilers, which translate high-level language into machine code in a separate compilation step.