21. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage device including code executed to translate statements in a computer program, wherein the code is executed to perform operations, the operations comprising: processing a mnemonic in the computer program having a user defined definition and a translator definition; processing a first mnemonic command specifying the mnemonic and the user defined definition; interpreting the mnemonic in the first mnemonic command according to the user defined definition in response to a first interpretation setting provided when the first mnemonic command was last processed specifying the mnemonic and the user defined definition; processing a second mnemonic command specifying the mnemonic and the translator definition after interpreting the mnemonic according to the user defined definition; interpreting the mnemonic in the second mnemonic command according to the translator definition in response to a second interpretation setting provided when the second mnemonic command was last processed specifying the mnemonic and the translator definition; updating a global flag in a mnemonic table for the mnemonic indicating to interpret the mnemonic with the user defined or translator definition specified in a global mnemonic command having global scope in response to processing the global mnemonic command; and updating a local flag in the mnemonic table for the mnemonic indicating to interpret the mnemonic with the user defined or translator definition specified in a local mnemonic command having local scope in response to processing the local mnemonic command, wherein the local interpretation overrides the global interpretation indicated by the global flag.
21. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage device including code executed to translate statements in a computer program, wherein the code is executed to perform operations, the operations comprising: processing a mnemonic in the computer program having a user defined definition and a translator definition; processing a first mnemonic command specifying the mnemonic and the user defined definition; interpreting the mnemonic in the first mnemonic command according to the user defined definition in response to a first interpretation setting provided when the first mnemonic command was last processed specifying the mnemonic and the user defined definition; processing a second mnemonic command specifying the mnemonic and the translator definition after interpreting the mnemonic according to the user defined definition; interpreting the mnemonic in the second mnemonic command according to the translator definition in response to a second interpretation setting provided when the second mnemonic command was last processed specifying the mnemonic and the translator definition; updating a global flag in a mnemonic table for the mnemonic indicating to interpret the mnemonic with the user defined or translator definition specified in a global mnemonic command having global scope in response to processing the global mnemonic command; and updating a local flag in the mnemonic table for the mnemonic indicating to interpret the mnemonic with the user defined or translator definition specified in a local mnemonic command having local scope in response to processing the local mnemonic command, wherein the local interpretation overrides the global interpretation indicated by the global flag. 22. The article of manufacture of claim 21 , wherein the operations further comprise: processing a qualified mnemonic in the computer program comprising the mnemonic and a qualification character; interpreting the qualified mnemonic according to the user defined definition for the mnemonic in response to a last processed qualifier command comprising a first qualifier command associating the qualification character with the user defined definition; and interpreting the qualified mnemonic according to the translator definition for the mnemonic in response to the last processed qualifier command comprising a second qualifier command associating the qualification character with the translator definition.