Editing Interpreter (computing) (section)

== General operation ==
An interpreter usually consists of a set of known [[Command (computing)|commands]] it can [[Execution (computing)|execute]], and a list of these commands in the order a programmer wishes to execute them. Each command (also known as an [[Instruction (computer science)|Instruction]]) contains the data the programmer wants to mutate, and information on how to mutate the data. For example, an interpreter might read <code>ADD Books, 5</code> and ''interpret'' it as a request to add five to the <code>Books</code> [[Variable (computer science)|variable]].

Interpreters have a wide variety of instructions which are specialized to perform different tasks, but you will commonly find interpreter instructions for basic [[Operation (mathematics)|mathematical operations]], [[Branch (computer science)|branching]], and [[memory management]], making most interpreters [[Turing completeness|Turing complete]]. Many interpreters are also closely integrated with a [[Garbage collection (computer science)|garbage collector]] and [[debugger]].