Question

Describe the steps that transform a program written in a high-level language such as c into a representation that is directly executed by a computer processor (e.G., machine language).

Answer 1

Solution:

Firstly the instructions are parsed, one at a time, and each instruction is converted to the equivalent machine language (ML) binary CPU commands.  

The relative addresses are noted so that any jumps, loops, etc., can be updated to point to the correct (relative) address, and the binary codes representing the loop, jump, etc., will be replace with correct addresses.  

Thus, once all instructions are converted to ML instructions, and all addresses are replaced by the actual (relative) in-memory address, all the instructions are written (as actual binary) to an executable file along with loading instructions (in machine language), telling the CPU where to put the executable program in memory, and then the starting address of the program so the CPU will know where to actually find the program within the memory.