Introduction To Software Development Environment

Linker: A System Software that combines two or more separate object programs and supplies the information needed to allow references between them. Contd …

Each language has a function that contains the object code for predefined functions. for example, the printf() is a library function. If the C program uses any of the library functions, the object code produced for the source code should be combined with the object code of the library functions to generate the final executable code. This process is called linking and it is performed by a 'linker'.

Steps in Program Execution Translator Linking Relocation Loading

Code Generator: A code generator is part of a compiler. It takes intermediate code and translates it into the final workable code in the target language. Contd…

 Software that generates application programs from descriptions of the problem rather than by traditional programming. It is at a higher level and easier to use than a high-level programming language such as C/C++ or COBOL. One statement or descriptive line may generate a huge routine or an entire program. Generators used for complex program development allow if-then-else programming to be expressed along with the simpler descriptive of the inputs and required outputs.

Debuggers: A debugger is a computer program that lets you run your program, line by line and examine the values of variables or look at values passed into functions and let you figure out why it isn't running the way you expected it to. Contd…

Compilers can be configured to produce debug information when you compile your program. This information is used by the debugger so you can view the source code as you debug, not the machine code.