Editing Binary translation (section)

{{short description|Form of binary recompilation}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2014|cs1-dates=y}}
In [[computing]], '''binary translation''' is a form of [[binary recompilation]] where sequences of [[instruction (computer science)|instruction]]s are translated from a source [[instruction set]] (ISA) to the target instruction set with respect to the [[operating system]] for which the binary was compiled for. In some cases such as [[instruction set simulator|instruction set simulation]], the target instruction set may be the same as the source instruction set, providing testing and debugging features such as instruction trace, conditional breakpoints and [[Hot spot (computer science)|hot spot]] detection.

The two main types are static and dynamic binary translation.  Translation can be done in hardware (for example, by circuits in a [[CPU]]) or in software (e.g. run-time engines, static recompiler, emulators, all are typically slow).