Hi stackoverflow, I apologize in advance for the possible stupidity of this question. However, the following has been the source of some confusion for me and I know the people here will be able to handily clear up the confusion for me. Basically, I would like to finally understand the relationship between any and all of the following terms. Some of the terms I do actually understand pretty well, but some of them are similar in my mind and I would like to once and for all to see their relationships/distinctions laid out all at once. They are: compiler interpreter bytecode machine code assembler assembly language binary object code executable Ideally, an answer would use examples from Java and C++ and other well-known programming languages that a young-ish student like me would be familiar with. Also, if you want to throw in any other useful terms that would be fine too :)