Compiler Construction, D7011E

Compiler Construction – D7011E
Lp3 2012

News

Jan 17	Course start.
Jan 24	Cleaning up and clarification of the project instructions regarding mandatory test cases.
Jan 31	Added lost MiniJava grammar link to the project instructions, step 1. Use this for the definition of MiniJava keywords and reserved symbols.

Course aim

The student shall be able to

describe compilation of a high level language into executable machine code as a translation process
in multiple stages
implement a compiler for a non-trivial language
master some common theoretical as well as practical tools ofr compiler construction
examplify the interplay between language design and implementation technique for modern high
level languages.

Course content

Basic design of a compiler as a multi-phase translation process
Lexical analysis
Syntax analysis
Translation into abstract syntax
Identifier handling and symbol table organization
Type-checking
Intermediate representations and transformations for different languages
Code optimization and register allocation
Machine code generation for various architectures

Official description in the course catalog.

Examiner & lecturer

Johan Nordlander
Room: A3316
Phone: 070 6207461
Email:

Literature

New book:

Alfred V. Aho, Monica S. Lam, Ravi Sethi, Jeffrey D. Ullman.
Compilers: principles, techniques and tools(2nd ed.),
Addison Wesley, 2007, ISBN: 0321486811.

Note that this is the hardcover variant, all versions of this book should be okay, as long as it is the
2nd edition. Please do not buy the 1st edition.

Previously we used the following book, and if you happen to already own, it also covers all of the
important material:

Andrew W. Appel with Jens Palsberg
Modern compiler implementation in Java.
Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2002.
ISBN: 0-521-82060-X.

Schedule

View the on-line schedule information.

Written exam: March 21 (5 hours)

Lecture notes

Lecture	Contents	Slides	Book chapter (Aho et al.)	Book chapter (Appel)
1	Introduction	pdf	1, (2)	1
2	Lexical analysis and finite automata	pdf	3.1-3.4	2
3	Lexer generators	pdf	3.5-3.11	2
4	Introduction to parsing	pdf	4.1-4.4	3
5	Details of top-down & bottom-up parsing	pdf	4.5-4.5	3
6	Parser generators and abstract syntax	pdf	4.8-4.9, (5)	3, 4
7	Semantic analysis	pdf	6.1-6.3	5
8	Introduction to code generation	pdf	(6.4-6.9), 8	6, 7
9	Implementing functions and objects	pdf	(7.1, 7.2), 8	6, 7, (14)
10	Continuing code generation	pdf	8	6, 7
11	Introduction to optimization	pdf	8, 9, (9.2)	7, 8, (18)
12	Garbage Collection	pdf	7	13
13	Instruction selection	pdf	8	9
14	Polymorphic types	pdf	N/A	16
15	An advanced topic (PCC)	-	-	-
16	Recapitulation & wrapping up	pdf	-	-

Programming project

The project consists of a total of 6 steps which must all be carried out individually.
Your project must pass the provided testsuite, which is set of Java files that your compiler must be able to correctly compile into machine code (code that, when executed, produces the same result as code generated by the standard Java compiler). In addition, your compiler must not accept any files in the set badsuite; instead a suitable error message should be displayed. Note: These tests are the first thing that will be tried on your compiler when you present your project anyway, so you should make sure your compiler complies before submitting.
There are no scheduled lab hours for the programming project, but you are welcome to use the lab as often
as there is space available (which should be most of the time). Be flexible!
There are no scheduled supervision hours for the programming project; instead you are required to schedule
supervision meetings when needed, by contacting your lecturer.

Step
Theme
Deadline

0
Warm-up: A simple calculator
Jan 25

1
Lexical analysis for MiniJava
Feb 1

2
Parsing MiniJava
Feb 15

3
MiniJava type-checking
Feb 29

4
Generating LLVM
March 14

5
LLVM optimization
March 20

Example exams

2010

2008

Course evaluations