What does "compile" actually mean in programming?

"Compile" is a term you'll hear often when programming in C, and it refers to a key step in turning your written code into a program that your computer can run.

When you write code in C, it starts out as a text file containing instructions that you've written. This code, written in a high-level language, needs to be transformed into machine language that the computer's processor can understand.

Here's how compiling works in simple terms:

• Source Code: Your code, like the "Hello, World!" example, is called the source code.

• Compiler: A special program called a compiler takes your source code and converts it into binary code (the ones and zeros) that your computer can execute.

• Executable: The output of this process is an "executable" file (.exe on Windows systems), which is your program ready to run.

So, when you press the Run Code button to compile and run the code, the system takes care of this whole compiling process for you, resulting in your output appearing on the screen.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask if you have more questions about this process.