The Design and Construction of Compilers (Wiley Series in Computing)

Rating:
Summary: Great reference work on compiler design
Review: This book deals firstly with the design and secondly with the construction of compilers for high-level programming languages. While the emphasis therefore is on the design aims of compiler projects and how they might be achieved, the practical details of compiler writing have not been overlooked and the background to much of the text is the compiler work which has taken place in the Computer Science Department in the University of Strathclyde over the last few years.

The book should be suitable as a basis for an undergraduate course on compilers and has been used as such in the University of Strathclyde. It deals with the implementation of block-structured languages such as ALGOL 60, PL/l, ALGOL 68, Pascal, or Ada and reference is made frequently to aspects of particular languages. Algorithms are described in an actual programming language (ALGOL 68) but students not familiar with this particular language should not have difficulty following them. The exercises at the end of each chapter are intended to stimulate the student to think more about how compilers are constructed; outline solutions to the exercises in chapters 1-12 are given at the end of the book. Chapter 1 discusses the compilation process in general terms, as well as the relationship between high level programming languages and typical computers, while Chapter 2 goes on to discuss the formal definition of programming languages. Chapter 3 covers lexical analysis and Chapters 4 and 5 are concerned with top-down and bottom-up methods of syntax analysis. Chapter 6 describes how a context-free grammar can be used as a framework for the compiler actions and Chapter 7 deals with the overall design of compilers with particular emphasis on the design of multi-pass compilers.

The structure of symbol tables and mode (or type) tables for languages with complex types is dealt with in Chapter 8, while Chapter 9 is concerned with local and global storage allocation. Chapters 10 and 11 deal with code generation and the use of a machine-independent intermediate code.

Chapter 12 is a discussion of methods of error recovery and diagnosis while Chapter 13 introduces ideas concerned with the production of reliable compilers.

Rating:
Summary: Great reference work on compiler design
Review: This book deals firstly with the design and secondly with the construction of compilers for high-level programming languages. While the emphasis therefore is on the design aims of compiler projects and how they might be achieved, the practical details of compiler writing have not been overlooked and the background to much of the text is the compiler work which has taken place in the Computer Science Department in the University of Strathclyde over the last few years.

The book should be suitable as a basis for an undergraduate course on compilers and has been used as such in the University of Strathclyde. It deals with the implementation of block-structured languages such as ALGOL 60, PL/l, ALGOL 68, Pascal, or Ada and reference is made frequently to aspects of particular languages. Algorithms are described in an actual programming language (ALGOL 68) but students not familiar with this particular language should not have difficulty following them. The exercises at the end of each chapter are intended to stimulate the student to think more about how compilers are constructed; outline solutions to the exercises in chapters 1-12 are given at the end of the book. Chapter 1 discusses the compilation process in general terms, as well as the relationship between high level programming languages and typical computers, while Chapter 2 goes on to discuss the formal definition of programming languages. Chapter 3 covers lexical analysis and Chapters 4 and 5 are concerned with top-down and bottom-up methods of syntax analysis. Chapter 6 describes how a context-free grammar can be used as a framework for the compiler actions and Chapter 7 deals with the overall design of compilers with particular emphasis on the design of multi-pass compilers.

The structure of symbol tables and mode (or type) tables for languages with complex types is dealt with in Chapter 8, while Chapter 9 is concerned with local and global storage allocation. Chapters 10 and 11 deal with code generation and the use of a machine-independent intermediate code.

Chapter 12 is a discussion of methods of error recovery and diagnosis while Chapter 13 introduces ideas concerned with the production of reliable compilers.