At this point in history, computers are mostly passive beasts. There was a time when they could take themselves to the bathroom, but now, no more. A computer remembers how to do things, but only does them when it is told by a human.
Told to translate this or that ... a computer remembers how, from prior instructions stored as machine code(1B) : the computer then takes source code(2A) written by some human, and the computer passes that source code(2A) to its processors, along with its prior instructions(1B). The processors read (1B) and (2A), and turn (2A) into machine code(2B).
In doing so, the computer keeps track of its work in a notebook called a symbol table(2T). These are dictionaries which remember the stories of things mentioned in source code(2A). By the time the machine code(2B) is produced, there is usually no more need for the symbol table(2T), and so it is thrown away.
The symbol table lives a short life, yet it delivers a story that communicates purposes and destinies. Symbol tables are dictionaries, or maps. Living humans are also maps, albeit a little more complicated. But ultimately neither the symbol table nor a human accomplishes more in its time, than passing a message from an earlier thing, to a later thing.
Nevertheless, humans are whiny things, and they make a big deal about doing all that.
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