Which languages are commonly interpreted?

• A. Python, JavaScript
• B. Java, C++
• C. C, Ada
• D. Go, Rust

Answer: (A)

Think about how the code is actually run. Interpreted languages are executed by an interpreter or a virtual machine at runtime, rather than being turned into a native machine executable ahead of time. This means you typically run the source (or a small intermediate form) directly and the runtime reads and executes it on the fly.

Python and JavaScript are the classic examples of this approach. Python is executed by an interpreter (often CPython), which compiles code to bytecode and then runs it on a virtual machine. JavaScript runs inside a JavaScript engine (like V8 or SpiderMonkey) that reads the code, optimizes it, and executes it within a runtime environment, usually translating to machine code during execution rather than producing a standalone native binary.

The other languages listed are primarily compiled to native code, producing a standalone executable after a compilation step. C and Ada are traditional compiled languages; Go and Rust are also compiled to native binaries. Java sits a bit differently because you compile to bytecode that runs on the Java Virtual Machine, which then may interpret or JIT-compile the code at runtime. In practice, Python and JavaScript are the languages most commonly treated as interpreted.