Compiler Design Course

This course is tailored for students interested in the foundational concepts of computer science, focusing on the design and construction of compilers. Despite the limited variety in compiler construction methodologies, these techniques are versatile and can be applied to create interpreters and translators for a broad and diverse spectrum of languages and machines. In this course, students will be introduced to the main components of a compiler, their functions, and their interrelationships. Beginning with an overview of compiler components and various grammars, the course will detail the different phases of translation, including lexical analysis, syntactic analysis, semantic analysis, and code generation and optimization.

Course Breakdown:

  • Introduction: Basic concepts and overview of compiler structures.
  • Languages and Grammars: Exploration of different programming languages and their underlying grammars.
  • Lexical Analysis and Error Correction: Techniques for tokenizing input and correcting lexical errors.
  • Top-Down Syntactic Analysis: Covers top-down parsing strategies, including simple error handling and LL(1) parsing.
  • Bottom-Up Syntactic Analysis: Detailed exploration of bottom-up parsing techniques like operator precedence, simple precedence, and the LR(1) - parsing family, including SLR(1), LALR(1), and CLR(1).
  • Semantic Analysis: Understanding the meaning behind code structures and managing symbol tables.
  • Runtime Memory Allocation Techniques: Methods for managing memory during program execution.
  • Code Generation: Detailed mechanisms of translating high-level instructions into machine code.
  • Code Optimization: Techniques for improving the efficiency and performance of the generated code.
  • Automatic Compiler Generation: An introduction to tools and methodologies for automating compiler construction.

By the end of this course, students will be equipped with the skills necessary to understand and construct compilers that can effectively translate, optimize, and manage code across various computer systems, thereby solving real-world computational problems efficiently.