A Level Computer Science OCR Practice Exam

What is a characteristic of object code?

1. It is human-readable

2. It does not require a translator to run

3. It is written in high-level language

4. It is easy to reverse engineer

The correct answer is: It does not require a translator to run

Object code is a compiled version of source code written in a high-level programming language. One defining characteristic of object code is that it does not require a translator to run, meaning that it is already in a machine-readable format which the computer's hardware can execute directly. This conversion from high-level code to object code is performed by a compiler or assembler, streamlining the execution process, as the program can run without the need for additional translating steps at runtime. In contrast, object code is not human-readable as it is composed of binary instructions that are typically difficult for people to interpret without specialized tools. Additionally, object code is not written in high-level languages; it is the result of the compilation of such languages. While it may sometimes be possible to reverse engineer object code back into some form of high-level representation, it is generally not easy due to the complexity and loss of high-level abstractions during the compilation process. Thus, the defining characteristic that it does not require a translator to run stands out as the most accurate description of object code.