What is a runtime environment in programming?
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We currently use high-level programming languages. They look kinda close to plain writing, with a lot of different grammar rules and {} () ; , characters thrown in. The thing is, computers don’t actually understand this kind of code. They operate off of machine code, which is basically just sequences of binary 1s and 0s. The high-level program needs to be translated from the near english down to the machine code. This process is called compiling.
In many cases programs are compiled and then sold/distributed for use. It allows the programs to be executed much faster on the user’s computer. The problem is that different types of computers use different languages. So a program compiled to run on a system running a windows operating system will not run on a computer running MacOS.
This means that developers had to figure out a way to allow their programs to run on different platforms. One solution is to rewrite the program and compile it for every operating system and computer hardware architecture you want it to run on. That takes a lot of time and effort. It also would have to be done over and over for each program. Instead, some developers figured they would only do it once. The runtime environment is coded to run on the desired system architecture/operating system. This allows developers to write their program one time, but have it run on different systems. The runtime environment takes the program and compiles it when the user clicks on the application for the computer to run. So long as the system has the appropriate run time environment software installed, the application will run on that system regardless of operating system. Java and python are two run-time programming languages that come to my mind immediately, but I know there are a ton more.
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