Perl does parse and "compile". The perl "interpreter" is really a "parse"->"compile"->"execute" program. "Interpreter" usually implies a read->execute->read loop on your script code.

Perl compiles to a execution tree then starts running the execution tree. Typical systems compile to a linear list of assembly instructions. An execution tree is different than a linear list of assembly instructions in that the branching and expression trees are preserved rather than flattened out as is the case with assembly.

I've heard that there are optimization advantages to preserving the tree structure information. But really I don't know much about perl internals.

Hope that helps.

In reply to Re: How does Perl do it it's thing? by LunaticLeo
in thread How does Perl do it it's thing? by bladx

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