Any program written in any programming language must be translated before it can be executed on a certain piece of hardware. This translation is typically accomplished by a software system called compiler. This module aims to introduce students to the principles and techniques used to perform this translation and the key issues that arise in the construction of modern compilers.
Students who are not from the Department of Computer Science must have permission from both Computer Science and their home School to enrol.
Pre-requisites
To enrol students are required to have taken COMP11120 or one of the following: COMP11111, MATH10111, MATH10131, MATH10212, MATH10232, MATH10662, MATH10672
Any program written in a programming language must be translated before it can be executed. This translation is typically accomplished by a software system called compiler. This module aims to introduce students to the principles and techniques used to perform this translation and the issues that arise in the construction of a compiler.
Introduction
What is a compiler? A high-level view of compilation. General structure of a compiler. An overview of compilation technology.
Lexical Analysis (Scanning)
Regular languages/expressions, finite state machines, building regular expressions from a finite automaton.
Syntax Analysis (Parsing)
Expressing Syntax, Context Free Grammars, Top-Down Parsing, Bottom-Up parsing.
Semantic Analysis
Context-sensitive analysis, Attribute Grammars, Symbol Tables, Type Checking.
Intermediate Representations
Properties, taxonomy, Graphical IRs, Linear IRs.
Storage Management
The Procedure Abstraction, Linkage convention, Run-time storage organisation.
Code Generation
Code Shape, Instruction Selection, Register Allocation, Instruction Scheduling.
Topics in Compiler Construction
Code Optimisation, JIT Compilation.
Conclusions
Written formative feedback is provided on student solutions of a set of problems which are commonly met when designing and building compilers; there are three such sets presented during the course.
COMP36511 reading list can be found on the Department of Computer Science website for current students.