The Zim Compiler is used to compile application programs.

The Compiler reads the programs that you have written (source code) and produces object code. The compiled code is placed into a disk file separate from the disk file that contains the source code.

The compiled version of an application program is semantically equivalent to the source program, but can be executed more efficiently, because syntactic and semantic analysis is no longer required.

Compiled programs are encrypted and are therefore completely unreadable by others. You can distribute this unreadable (and un-modifiable) version of your program, thus protecting your source code from unwanted viewing and modification.

Compiled programs can be run by the Development system, the Runtime system, or the Professional Runtime system. The Runtime system is a special, concise version of Zim; it can run only fully compiled applications. The Professional Runtime system is similar to the Runtime system, but it also enables ad hoc query and report commands to be executed interpretively.

To benefit from the Compiler, you do not need to compile all of the programs in an application. Compiled programs can call uncompiled programs, and vice versa. However, if you do compile an entire application system, you can run the application using the Runtime system, which occupies much less memory than the Development system or the Professional Runtime system.

Note: The Professional Runtime system and the multi-user Runtime system are optional products that are not automatically included in the basic software package. If you wish to obtain these optional products, contact ZIM Technologies International Inc. The single-user version of the Runtime system is included in the basic software package as a “right-to-copy” package.