Question

can any computer interpret every language? what i mean by this is if say i write a script in python and email it to my mom and she downloads it could her computer interpret and run that script without her having to download python software? is this the case with all languages and machines or do you require a certain language for certain machines?

Answer 1

In java, the compiler will always save the source code as java's byte code-- since java made 'java byte code', it's universal for all operating systems (note different languages have different byte codes).

Though in order for a program to run, it has to be translated into machine language, this is where the JVM (java virtual machine) comes in.

The machine language (0's and 1's) is different for each operating system, and thus a different version of the JVM is needed for each different operating system. Though the JVM makes java easily run on many different computers-- Hence the reason it's called a 'highly portable language'.

As for python, I have no idea.. just thought sharing what I know about java might help point you in the right direction to look for answers.