Some programming languages require a compilation step. Compilation is where your high-level language converts into a lower-level language that the computer can understand better. A compilation or compile-time error happens when the compiler doesn’t know how to turn your code into the lower-level code.
In our syntax error example, if we were compiling print(‘hello’, the compiler would stop and tell us it doesn’t know how to convert this into a lower-level language because it expected a ) after the ‘.
If there is a compile-time error in your software, you won’t be able to get it tested or launched.
Like syntax errors, you will get better at avoiding these with time, but in general, the best thing you can do is get early feedback when it happens.
Compilation happens across all files of your project at the same time. If you’ve made lots of changes and see lots of compiler warnings or errors, it can be very daunting. By running the compiler often, you will get the feedback you need sooner, and you will more easily know where to address the issues.
Compilation Errors
Compilation errors occur during the process of translating source code into machine-readable instructions by a compiler. These errors occur when the compiler encounters issues that prevent it from successfully converting the source code into executable code and are often caused by other programming errors, like syntax and semantic errors.
They can also be caused by some of the following circumstances:
- When the compiler encounters references to symbols (such as functions, variables, or types) that are declared but not defined in the source code or provided by external libraries or dependencies.
- When there are inconsistencies or mismatches between data types in the source code, like attempting to perform operations on variables of incompatible types or passing arguments of the wrong type to functions.
- Limitations or constraints imposed by the compiler itself, like limitations on the source code size, the complexity of expressions, or the use of unsupported language features or constructs.
- Environmental factors such as compiler settings, system configurations, or platform-specific differences.
Conclusion:These are errors detected by the compiler during the compilation phase, where the source code is translated into machine-executable code. Compilation errors indicate that the code cannot be successfully translated and thus cannot be executed.