Question

A computer scientist will correctly explain that all programs are
interpreted and that the only question is at what level. —perlfaq

How are all programs interpreted?

Answer 1

A Perl program is a text file read by the perl program which causes the perl program to follow a sequence of actions.

A Java program is a text file which has been converted into a series of byte codes which are then interpreted by the java program to follow a sequence of actions.

A C program is a text file which is converted via the C compiler into an assembly program which is converted into machine code by the assembler. The machine code is loaded into memory which causes the CPU to follow a sequence of actions.

The CPU is a jumble of transistors, resistors, and other electrical bits which is laid out by hardware engineers so that when electrical impulses are applied, it will follow a sequence of actions as governed by the laws of physics.

Physicists are currently working out what makes those rules and how they are interpreted.

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Essentially, every computer program is interpreted by something else which converts it into something else which eventually gets translated into how the electrons in your local neighborhood fly around.

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EDIT/ADDED: I know the above is a bit tongue-in-cheek, so let me add a slightly less goofy addition:

Interpreted languages are where you can go from a text file to something running on your computer in one simple step.

Compiled languages are where you have to take an extra step in the middle to convert the language text into machine- or byte-code.

The latter can easily be easily be converted into the former by a simple transformation:

Make a program called interpreted-c, which can take one or more C files and can run a program which doesn’t take any arguments:

#!/bin/sh
MYEXEC=/tmp/myexec.$$
gcc -o $MYEXEC ${1+"$@"} && $MYEXEC
rm -f $MYEXEC

Now which definition does your C program fall into? Compare & contrast:

$ perl foo.pl
$ interpreted-c foo.c