Introduction To Compilers And Language Design

A compiler translates a program written in a high level language into a program written in a lower level language. For students of computer science, building a compiler from scratch is a rite of passage: a challenging and fun project that offers insight into many different aspects of computer science, some deeply theoretical, and others highly practical. This book offers a one semester introduction into compiler construction, enabling the reader to build a simple compiler that accepts a C-like language and translates it into working X86 or ARM assembly language. It is most suitable for undergraduate students who have some experience programming in C, and have taken courses in data structures and computer architecture.

This textbook is intended for an introductory course on Compiler Design, suitable for use in an undergraduate programme in computer science or related fields. Introduction to Compiler Design presents techniques for making realistic, though non-optimizing compilers for simple programming languages using methods that are close to those used in "real" compilers, albeit slightly simplified in places for presentation purposes. All phases required for translating a high-level language to machine language is covered, including lexing, parsing, intermediate-code generation, machine-code generation and register allocation. Interpretation is covered briefly. Aiming to be neutral with respect to implementation languages, algorithms are presented in pseudo-code rather than in any specific programming language, and suggestions for implementation in several different language flavors are in many cases given. The techniques are illustrated with examples and exercises. The author has taught Compiler Design at the University of Copenhagen for over a decade, and the book is based on material used in the undergraduate Compiler Design course there. Additional material for use with this book, including solutions to selected exercises, is available at http://www.diku.dk/~torbenm/ICD

The second edition of this textbook has been fully revised and adds material about loop optimisation, function call optimisation and dataflow analysis. It presents techniques for making realistic compilers for simple programming languages, using techniques that are close to those used in "real" compilers, albeit in places slightly simplified for presentation purposes. All phases required for translating a high-level language to symbolic machine language are covered, including lexing, parsing, type checking, intermediate-code generation, machine-code generation, register allocation and optimisation, interpretation is covered briefly. Aiming to be neutral with respect to implementation languages, algorithms are presented in pseudo-code rather than in any specific programming language, but suggestions are in many cases given for how these can be realised in different language flavours. Introduction to Compiler Design is intended for an introductory course in compiler design, suitable for both undergraduate and graduate courses depending on which chapters are used.

Despite using them every day, most software engineers know little about how programming languages are designed and implemented. For many, their only experience with that corner of computer science was a terrifying "compilers" class that they suffered through in undergrad and tried to blot from their memory as soon as they had scribbled their last NFA to DFA conversion on the final exam. That fearsome reputation belies a field that is rich with useful techniques and not so difficult as some of its practitioners might have you believe. A better understanding of how programming languages are built will make you a stronger software engineer and teach you concepts and data structures you'll use the rest of your coding days. You might even have fun. This book teaches you everything you need to know to implement a full-featured, efficient scripting language. You'll learn both high-level concepts around parsing and semantics and gritty details like bytecode representation and garbage collection. Your brain will light up with new ideas, and your hands will get dirty and calloused. Starting from main(), you will build a language that features rich syntax, dynamic typing, garbage collection, lexical scope, first-class functions, closures, classes, and inheritance. All packed into a few thousand lines of clean, fast code that you thoroughly understand because you wrote each one yourself.

A compiler translates a program written in a high level language into a program written in a lower level language. For students of computer science, building a compiler from scratch is a rite of passage: a challenging and fun project that offers insight into many different aspects of computer science, some deeply theoretical, and others highly practical. This book offers a one semester introduction into compiler construction, enabling the reader to build a simple compiler that accepts a C-like language and translates it into working X86 or ARM assembly language. It is most suitable for undergraduate students who have some experience programming in C, and have taken courses in data structures and computer architecture.

The third edition of this textbook has been fully revised and adds material about the SSA form, polymorphism, garbage collection, and pattern matching. It presents techniques for making realistic compilers for simple to intermediate-complexity programming languages. The techniques presented in the book are close to those used in professional compilers, albeit in places slightly simplified for presentation purposes. "Further reading" sections point to material about the full versions of the techniques. All phases required for translating a high-level language to symbolic machine language are covered, and some techniques for optimising code are presented. Type checking and interpretation are also included. Aiming to be neutral with respect to implementation languages, algorithms are mostly presented in pseudo code rather than in any specific language, but suggestions are in many places given for how these can be realised in different language paradigms. Depending on how much of the material from the book is used, it is suitable for both undergraduate and graduate courses for introducing compiler design and implementation.

While compilers for high-level programming languages are large complex software systems, they have particular characteristics that differentiate them from other software systems. Their functionality is almost completely well-defined - ideally there exist complete precise descriptions of the source and target languages. Additional descriptions of the interfaces to the operating system, programming system and programming environment, and to other compilers and libraries are often available. The book deals with the optimization phase of compilers. In this phase, programs are transformed in order to increase their efficiency. To preserve the semantics of the programs in these transformations, the compiler has to meet the associated applicability conditions. These are checked using static analysis of the programs. In this book the authors systematically describe the analysis and transformation of imperative and functional programs. In addition to a detailed description of important efficiency-improving transformations, the book offers a concise introduction to the necessary concepts and methods, namely to operational semantics, lattices, and fixed-point algorithms. This book is intended for students of computer science. The book is supported throughout with examples, exercises and program fragments.