Object language
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In computing, the object language of a translation by a compiler or assembler is the language into which a computer program is being translated. Source code in a source language is compiled into object code in an object language. Object language in this context is synonymous with target language. The object language of a translation most often is a machine language, but can be some other kind of language, such as assembly language.
Because the object language of compilation has usually been machine language, the term object file has come to mean a file containing machine instructions, and sometimes the translated program itself is simply called an object.
Object language should not be confused with object-oriented language, which is a particular type of computer programming language.
In linguistics, and in formal systems used in mathematical logic, object language has a different meaning. Those disciplines make use of metalanguages, which are languages for describing the nature of other languages. The language which a metalanguage is used to describe is the object language. It is called that presumably because that language is the object under discussion using the metalanguage.