After program source has been stored in a file, the following steps are necessary before the program can be used:

1. Compile the source code into an object (relocatable binary .REL) file.
2. Load the object file into memory, linking with other object files if necessary.
3. Run the program in memory. (Optionally save the program's complete executable image in a .EXE file for later use.)

TOPS-20 EXEC provides a number of commands

[1]: The system will automatically search for source files with these standard types and run the appropriate compiler if you omit the file type(s) when you run @COMPILE, @LOAD, or @EXECUTE.