An engineering team is developing the guidance software for an autonomous deep-sea exploration vehicle. The vehicle's onboard processor has highly restricted power and memory, and the proprietary navigation algorithms must be strictly protected against reverse-engineering. However, during field tests, oceanographers need to quickly adjust and debug diagnostic scripts on the fly.
Compare the use of a compiler with the use of an interpreter to translate and run high-level code, and explain how the characteristics of each would suit these conflicting requirements.
41 exam-style questions on Edexcel GCSE Computer Science Programming languages, covering Low-level and high-level languages and Interpreters versus compilers. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.