Printer Friendly
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary
1,509,152,279 visitors served.
forum mailing list For webmasters
?
New: Language forums
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

preprocessor

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Wikipedia 0.04 sec.

preprocessor

Software that performs some preliminary processing on the input before it is processed by the main program. See preprocessing.

(programming)preprocessor - A program that transforms input data in some way before it is read by the main program. In the case of a compiler, the input is source code. The main advantage of using a preprocessor is that it is possible to change the specification of the input data without changing the main program. The separation can also help to make the system's overall behaviour easier to understand. The disadvantage is that performance may be reduced by the extra input and output performed between the two programs.

For example, the C preprocessor, cpp, handles textual macro substitution (it acts as a "macro preprocessor"), conditional compilation and inclusion of other files.

A preprocessor may be used to transform a program into a simpler language, e.g. to transform C++ into C.


How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
 Email
Feedback
? Mentioned in ? References in periodicals archive
 
PHP: An acronym derived both from Personal Home Page tools and Hypertext preprocessor, PHP is a script language.
CMS: sticking with tried and true: institutions are boosting their ... by Burton, John / University Business
From avoiding common portability mistakes and finding bugs inherent in platform-specific behaviors to understanding filesystems and understanding preprocessors, Write Portable Code is packed with specifics which lend to both an overall understanding of concepts and the ability to troubleshoot common problems.
No Starch Press by The Bookwatch
A year's worth of hourly meteorologic data were compiled using the PCRAMMET meteorologic preprocessor program (U.
GIS modeling of air toxics releases from TRI-reporting and ... by Miranda, Marie Lynn / Environmental Health Perspectives
More results
 
Encyclopedia browser? ? Full browser
 
 
Encyclopedia
?

Disclaimer | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2009 Farlex, Inc.
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional. Terms of Use.