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In computer science, compile time refers to either the operations performed by a compiler (the "compile-time operations") or programming language requirements that must be met by source code for it to be successfully compiled (the "compile-time requirements").
The operations performed at compile time usually include syntax analysis, various kinds of semantic analysis (e.g., type checks and instantiation of template) and code generation.
The definition of a programming language will specify compile-time requirements that source code must meet to be successfully compiled.
Compile time occurs before link time (when the output of one or more compiled files are joined together) and runtime (when a program is executed). In some programming languages it may be necessary for some compilation and linking to occur at runtime.
"Compile time" can also refer to the amount of time required for compilation.
