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object code

object code

1 7.4
Machine instructions made from a program so a computer can run it
  • noun
  • /ˈɑbdʒɛkt koʊd/
  • Specialized
translation icon : código objeto
  • In Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley, the Second Circuit held that computer object code is expressive and "speech" protected under the First Amendment.

Examples

  • One study has shown that encoding the displacement has limited benefit for restricted types, such as PC object codes.

    Academic text (1996)
  • They encompassed databases, programs, object code, system code, and documents in two languages from major applications on VM, MVS(R), RS/600(TM), and PC.

    Academic text (1996)
  • So you find that distance at the link time or the yeah, when you generate the object code and plug that list distance, they are adding to the RIP.

  • Although object code instructs a computer to operate in a certain way, it can also function as a message between programmers.

    Academic text (2017)
  • This exploitation includes the generation of BFP instructions and data in HPCJ object code.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Then the hardware interpreter interprets the compiled code, the object code, and produces output.

  • Compression of the PowerPC object code reduces the cache storage requirements for such embedded processor applications.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Our solution is to compile the algorithm, which is written in C, into assembly language, then modify the assembly language and compile it into object code.

    Academic text (1997)
  • There are no names of local variables in the object code (they don't have extern linkage).

    Blog text (25)
  • The programmer generated a new object code ready for execution on the target machine.

Synonyms

machine code
vsobject code
  • Specialized
1 4.9

A set of instructions in numbers that a computer's processor can run directly

is produced by a compiler and tailored for a specific computer
object program
vsobject code
  • Specialized
6.1

A file that is ready for a computer to run

is specifically machine-level instructions rather than a complete loadable program
target program
vsobject code
  • Specialized
5.4

A program that is fully prepared to be loaded and run on a computer

is lower-level machine instructions prepared for a specific machine instead of the full program
OBJ
vsobject code
  • Specialized
9.9

A file with machine code created when a program is compiled

is ready to run on a specific computer rather than parts for linking

Surface Forms

object code singular
object codes plural

Morphology

object + code

The headword 'code' clearly signals programming instructions and 'object' marks a specific type, so a learner who knows the constituents will understand this refers to a specialized kind of code. However, the precise technical sense—machine code produced by a compiler and ready for execution—is a lexicalized, domain-specific meaning that is not fully predictable from the parts alone, making the expression only partially transparent.

Etymology

The term object code comes from seeing object as a finished thing and code as instructions. Imagine a factory that turns the code a person writes into a finished set of instructions a machine can follow, so object code means the instructions made and 'ready to run' on a 'computer'.