[bastloing]

As having a masters in computer science I respectfully disagree with you. Would you consider a program that translates C code to FORTRAN a compiler? Nope, it's a translator. A compiler compiles a language into a direct executable. Just like Microsoft Windows has executables, .exe file, there's no runtime required to run those files.

[orf]

Nobody calls them “translators”, that’s so silly. It’s a compiler, or transpiler (still a compiler).

Avoid using appeals to authority when discussing, it doesn’t make you look good. Even more-so when your authority is relatively mundane and you’re totally incorrect.

[dzaima]

Transpilers are a subset of compilers, even if somewhat often "compiler" is used to refer to the ones producing executables.

And .exe-s still need the OS, dynamic libraries, and, perhaps most importantly, the CPU (which is pretty much a VM interpreter, modern CPUs having what's essentially a custom IR, peephole optimizations, aliasing analysis, JITting, loop unrolling, PGO, caching, ...), to run.

[dtech]

You should use your CS master skills to read the first line of the "Compiler" article in Wikipedia [1]

> In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the source language) into another language (the target language).

And maybe also the second line. JVM bytecode is an object code as referenced there.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compiler

[aeonik]

I would call this a transpiler, and it's definitely a kind of compiler. I typically use the word compiler to imply that I'm moving to a lower level representation, and a transpiler as one that does a horizonal translation.

There are expections to this general rule of thumb, Cross-compiling is a term used for a horizonal translation.

I also watched this video of a PhD project that compiles JavaScript from an input of Visual data and JavaScript. Which is probably one of the more interesting uses of compiler I've seen.

https://youtu.be/MQnVmEw6ISQ?si=NYCSuzi3IxG0md_k

[shepherdjerred]

Why would holding a MS make you an authoritative source on… anything?

Anyway, there’s no real agreement on the terms and everyone has an opinion. This is as useful as arguing “is a taco a sandwich”

[peterfirefly]

I very much consider RATFOR a compiler.