A Translator is a computer program that translates one programming language instruction(s) into another
programming language instruction(s) without the loss of original meaning. OR, the translator will translate X
language and produce X’ language. Where X is the MEANING and ‘(DASH) is the language. Some advanced translators
will even change the logic (not meaning) or will simplify the logic without losing the essence.

Types

If the translator translates a high level language into an assembly

Assembly language

An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture...

 or machine language it is called a compiler

Compiler

A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...

. Examples include Ada

Ada (programming language)

Ada is a structured, statically typed, imperative, wide-spectrum, and object-oriented high-level computer programming language, extended from Pascal and other languages...

, ALGOL

ALGOL

ALGOL is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in the mid 1950s which greatly influenced many other languages and became the de facto way algorithms were described in textbooks and academic works for almost the next 30 years...

, BASIC

BASIC

BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....

, COBOL

COBOL

COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....

, FORTRAN

Fortran

Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...

, PL/I

PL/I

PL/I is a procedural, imperative computer programming language designed for scientific, engineering, business and systems programming applications...

, C

C (programming language)

C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

/C++

C++

C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...

.

If the translator translates a high level language into an intermediate code which will be immediately executed it is called interpreter

Interpreter (computing)

In computer science, an interpreter normally means a computer program that executes, i.e. performs, instructions written in a programming language...

. Examples include APL, ASP

Active Server Pages

Active Server Pages , also known as Classic ASP or ASP Classic, was Microsoft's first server-side script engine for dynamically-generated Web pages. Initially released as an add-on to Internet Information Services via the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack Active Server Pages (ASP), also known as Classic...

, CYBOL, LISP

Lisp

A lisp is a speech impediment, historically also known as sigmatism. Stereotypically, people with a lisp are unable to pronounce sibilants , and replace them with interdentals , though there are actually several kinds of lisp...

, Smalltalk

Smalltalk

Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective programming language. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis." It was designed and created in part for educational use, more so for constructionist...

, PHP

PHP

PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...

 and PERL

Perl

Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...

.

If the translator translates target/machine code to source language it is called a Decompiler

Decompiler

A decompiler is the name given to a computer program that performs, as far as possible, the reverse operation to that of a compiler. That is, it translates a file containing information at a relatively low level of abstraction into a form having a higher level of abstraction...

. Example: DCC, Boomerang Decompilers and Reverse Engineering Compiler (REC).

If the translator translates assembly language to machine code such kind of translator is called assembler

Assembly language

An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture...

. Examples include MASM, TASM

Tasm

TASM can refer to:*Turbo Assembler, Borland's x86 assembler* Turbo Assembler, Omikron's Commodore 64-based 6502 assembler*Table Assembler, a table driven cross-assembler for small microprocessors.*Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile...

, NASM and FASM

FASM

FASM in computing is an assembler. It supports programming in Intel-style assembly language on the IA-32 and x86-64 computer architectures. It claims high speed, size optimizations, operating system portability, and macro abilities. It is a low-level assembler and intentionally uses very few...

.

If the translator translates machine code into assembly language such kind of translator is called Disassembler

Disassembler

A disassembler is a computer program that translates machine language into assembly language—the inverse operation to that of an assembler. A disassembler differs from a decompiler, which targets a high-level language rather than an assembly language...

. Examples include gdb, IDA Pro and OllyDbg

OllyDbg

OllyDbg is an x86 debugger that emphasizes binary code analysis, which is useful when source code is not available. It traces registers, recognizes procedures, API calls, switches, tables, constants and strings, as well as locates routines from object files and libraries. Version 1.10 is the final...

.