executable
A computer program that is ready to run. The exact definition depends upon how the source code was compiled:
For unmanaged code: A program that has been compiled to native machine code, ready to run directly on the underlying CPU.
For .NET managed code: A program that has been compiled to the Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL), ready to be converted to native machine code and executed by the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR).
For Java code: A Java program that has been compiled to Java bytecode (usually a .class file), ready to be interpreted and executed by a Java virtual machine (JVM).
For Visual Basic code: A Visual Basic program that has been compiled to p-code, ready to be interpreted and executed by the Visual Basic interpreter engine. Visual Basic programs can also be compiled to managed code in Visual Basic .NET, or to native machine code.
See also p-code program, managed code, and native code in the glossary.
(C) Copyright IBM Corporation 1993, 2009.