[pree-pros-es-er, -uh-ser or, especially Brit., -proh-ses-er, -suh-ser] Pronunciation Key | a program that performs some type of processing, as organization of data or preliminary computation, in advance of another program that will perform most of the processing. |
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
| pre·proc·ess
(prē-prŏs'ěs', -prō'sěs') Pronunciation Key
tr.v. pre·proc·essed, pre·proc·ess·ing, pre·proc·ess·es To perform preliminary processing on (data, for example). pre·proc'es·sor n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
preprocessor programming
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.
(2007-04-05)
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