Unit II

Introduction to Compilers
Partha Sarathi Chakraborty
Assistant Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
SRM University, Delhi NCR Campus

(C) 2014, Prepared by Partha Sarathi Chakraborty

Compiler Course Outline

(Unit 2 to Unit 5)

Ch. 1: Introduction
Ch. 3: Lexical Analysis and Lex/Flex
Ch. 4: Syntax Analysis and Yacc/Bison
Ch. 5: Syntax-Directed Translation
Ch. 6: Type Checking
Ch. 7: Run-Time Environments
Ch. 8: Intermediate Code Generation
Ch. 9: Code Generation
Ch.10: Code Optimization
Reference:
Aho, Ullman, and Sethi, Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools

Textbook

(C) 2014, Prepared by Partha Sarathi Chakraborty

Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools, 2/E.

Alfred V. Aho, Columbia University

Monica S. Lam, Stanford University
Ravi Sethi, Avaya Labs
Jeffrey D. Ullman, Stanford University

Dragon

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Contents

Overview and History

What Do Compilers Do
Compiler and Interpreters
Phases of a compiler
Analysis of source program / Translation
Tex
Features of Good Programming Language
The Syntax and Semantics of Programming Language
Computer Architecture and Compiler Design
Compiler Construction Tools

Overview and History

Cause

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Software for early computers was written in assembly language

The benefits of reusing software on different CPUs started to
become significantly greater than the cost of writing a compiler

The first real compiler

FORTRAN compilers of the late 1950s
18 person-years to build

Overview and History (Contd)

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Compiler technology
is more broadly applicable and has been employed in
rather unexpected areas.
Text-formatting languages, like nroff and troff;
preprocessor packages like eqn, tbl, pic
Silicon compiler for the creation of VLSI circuits
Command languages of OS
Query languages of Database systems

What Do Compilers Do

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Compilers may generate three types of code:

Pure Machine Code
Machine instruction set without assuming the existence
of any operating system or library.
Mostly being OS or embedded applications.

Augmented Machine Code

Code with OS routines and runtime support routines.
More often

Virtual Machine Code

Virtual instructions, can be run on any architecture with
a virtual machine interpreter or a just-in-time compiler
Ex. Java

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What Do Compilers Do (Contd)

Another way that compilers differ from one
another is in the format of the target machine
code they generate:
Assembly or other source format
Relocatable binary
Relative address
A linkage step is required

Absolute binary
Absolute address
Can be executed directly

Compilers and Interpreters

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Compilation
Translation of a program written in a source
language into a semantically equivalent
program written in a target language
Input
Source
Program

Compiler

Target
Program

Error messages

Output

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Compilers
Source languages: Fortran, Pascal, C, etc.
Target languages: another PL, machine Lang
Compilers:

Single-pass
Multi-pass
Load-and-Go
Debugging
Optimizing

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Compilers and Interpreters

(contd)
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Interpretation
Performing the operations implied by the
source program

Source
Program

Interpreter

Input
Error messages

Output

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Other Tools that Use the

Analysis-Synthesis Model

Editors (syntax highlighting)

Pretty printers (e.g. doxygen)
Static checkers (e.g. lint and splint)
Interpreters
Text formatters (e.g. TeX and LaTeX)
Silicon compilers (e.g. VHDL)
Query interpreters/compilers (Databases)

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Preprocessors, Compilers,
Assemblers, and Linkers
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Skeletal Source Program

Preprocessor
Source Program
Compiler
Target Assembly Program
Assembler
Relocatable Object Code
Linker
Absolute Machine Code

Try for example:

gcc -v myprog.c

Libraries and
Relocatable Object Files

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The Analysis-Synthesis Model of

Compilation
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There are two parts to compilation:

Analysis determines the operations implied by the
source program which are recorded in a tree
structure
Synthesis takes the tree structure and translates the
operations therein into the target program

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Phases of Compiler

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The Structure of a Compiler

Source
Program

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(Character Stream)

Scanner

Tokens

Parser

Syntactic
Structure

Semantic
Routines

Intermediate
Representation

Symbol and
Attribute
Tables

Optimizer

(Used by all Phases of The Compiler)

Code
Generator
Target machine code

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The Structure of a Compiler (Contd)

Source
Program

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(Character Stream)

Scanner

Tokens

Scanner

Parser

Syntactic
Structure

The scanner begins the analysis of the source program by

Symbol and
reading the input, character by character, and grouping
Attribute
characters into individual
words and symbols (tokens)
Tables

RE ( Regular expression )
(Used
by all )
NFA ( Non-deterministic Finite
Automata
DFA ( Deterministic FinitePhases
Automataof
)
LEX
The Compiler)

Semantic
Routines

Intermediate
Representation

Optimizer

Code
Generator
Target machine code

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The Structure of a Compiler (Contd)

Source
Program

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(Character Stream)

Scanner

Parser

Tokens

Parser

Syntactic
Structure

Given a formal syntax specification (typically as a contextfree grammar [CFG] ), the parse reads tokens and groups
Symbol and
them into units as specified by the productions of the CFG
Attribute
being used.
Tables
As syntactic structure is recognized, the parser either calls
corresponding semantic routines directly or builds a syntax
(Used by all
tree.
Phases
of
CFG ( Context-Free Grammar
)
Compiler)
BNF ( Backus-Naur FormThe
)
GAA ( Grammar Analysis Algorithms )
LL, LR, SLR, LALR Parsers
YACC

Semantic
Routines

Intermediate
Representation

Optimizer

Code
Generator
Target machine code

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The Structure of a Compiler (Contd)

Source
Program

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(Character Stream)

Scanner

Tokens

Semantic Routines

Parser

Perform two functions

Check the static semantics of each construct
Symbol and
Do the actual translation
Attribute
The heart of a compiler
Tables
Syntax Directed Translation
(Used
by all
Semantic Processing
Techniques
Phases of
IR (Intermediate Representation)
The Compiler)

Syntactic
Structure

Semantic
Routines

Intermediate
Representation

Optimizer

Code
Generator
Target machine code

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The Structure of a Compiler (Contd)

Source
Program

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(Character Stream)

Optimizer

Scanner

Tokens

Parser

Syntactic
Structure

The IR code generated by the semantic routines is

analyzed and transformed into functionally equivalent but
Symbol and
improved IR code
Attribute
This phase can be very complex and slow
Tables
Peephole optimization
loop optimization, register allocation, code scheduling
(Used by all
Phases
of
Register and Temporary
Management
Peephole OptimizationThe Compiler)

Semantic
Routines

Intermediate
Representation

Optimizer

Code
Generator
Target machine code

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The Structure of a Compiler (Contd...)

Source
Program

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(Character Stream)

Scanner

Tokens

Code Generator
Interpretive Code Generation
Generating Code from Tree/Dag
Grammar-Based Code Generator

Parser

Syntactic
Structure

Semantic
Routines

Intermediate
Representation

Optimizer

Code
Generator
Target machine code

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Symbol-table Management

To record the identifiers in source program

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Identifier is detected by lexical analysis and then is

stored in symbol table

To collect the attributes of identifiers

(not by lexical analysis)
Storage allocation : memory address
Types
Scope (where it is valid, local or global)
Arguments (in case of procedure names)

Arguments numbers and types

Call by reference or address
Return types

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Symbol-table Management

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Semantic analysis uses type information check

the type consistence of identifiers
Code generating uses storage allocation
information to generate proper relocation
address code

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Error Detection and Reporting

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Syntax and semantic analysis handle a large fraction

of errors
Some of the Errors may occur in compilation phase
Lexical phase: could not form any token

e.g. Misspelling or Juxtaposing of characters

Syntax phase: tokens violate structure rules

e.g. Unbalanced parenthesis, Missing punctuation

operators or Undeclared variables.

Semantic phase: no meaning of operations

Add an array name and a procedure name, Truncation

of results or Unreachable Code.

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Translation of A Statement

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Translation of A Statement

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Translation of A Statement

Properties and Advantage of

Intermediate Code
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Properties:
It should be easy to produce.
It should be easy to translate into the target machine.

Advantage (In current scenario, the internet era):

Consistent and Continuous Programming Model

Develop once and run anywhere
Simplified deployment
Wide platform reach
Programming language integration
Simplified code reuse
Interoperability

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Intermediate Code Representation

Two kinds of representations
Trees
Parse Trees, Syntax Trees

Linear representations
Three-address code

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Code Optimization
It attempts to improve the intermediate code, to
produce more efficient code that will result a fasterrunning machine code.
Compiler Optimizations must meet the following
objectives:
The optimization must be correct, that is, preserve the
meaning of the compiled program,
The optimization must improve the performance of many
programs,
The compilation time must be kept reasonable, and
The engineering effort required must be manageable.

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Factors influenced Code Generation

Register Allocation
Register Scheduling
Code Selection
Addressing Modes
Instruction format
Power of instructions
Optimization at the machine code level
Back patching

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Analysis in Text Formatters:

TeX is a typesetting system designed and mostly written by Donald
Knuth, and released in 1978.
TeX was designed with two main goals:
To allow anybody to produce high-quality books using a reasonably
minimal amount of effort .
To provide a system that would give exactly the same results on all
computers, now and in the future.
TeX is a popular means by which to typeset complex mathematical
formulae.
It noted as one of the most sophisticated digital typographical systems in
the world.
TeX is popular in academia, especially in mathematics, computer
science, economics, engineering, physics, statistics, and quantitative
psychology.
Tex many other typesetting tasks, LaTeX, ConTeXt and other packages.

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Analysis in Text Formatters (Contd)

\hbox {<list of boxes>}

\hbox {\vbox{! 1} \vbox{@ 2}}

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The Grouping of Phases

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Compiler front and back ends:

Analysis (machine independent front end)
Synthesis (machine dependent back end)

Passes
A collection of phases may be repeated only once
(single pass) or multiple times (multi pass)
Single pass: usually requires everything to be defined
before being used in source program
Multi pass: compiler may have to keep entire program
representation in memory

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Features of a Good Programming Language

Easy to understand, and Expressive Power

Interoperability and Portability
Good turnaround time
Automatic error recovery and Good Error reporting
Efficient memory usage and Garbage Collection
Provision of good run-time environment
Support for virtual machine
Support for concurrent operation
Support for unblock operations
Ability to interface with foreign functions
Ability to model real-world problems
Ability to expose the functions for usage in other languages

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The Syntax and Semantics of Programming Language

A programming language must include the
specification of syntax (structure) and semantics
(meaning).
Syntax typically means the context-free syntax
because of the almost universal use of context-freegrammar (CFGs)
Ex.
a = b + c is syntactically legal
b + c = a is illegal

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The Syntax and Semantics of Programming

Language (Contd)

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The semantics of a programming language are

commonly divided into two classes:
Static semantics
Semantics rules that can be checked at compiled time.
Ex. The type and number of a functions arguments

Runtime semantics
Semantics rules that can be checked only at run time

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Computer Architecture and Compiler Design

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Compilers should exploit the hardware-specific feature and

computing capability to optimize code.
The problems encountered in modern computing platforms:
Instruction sets for some popular architectures are highly nonuniform.
High-level programming language operations are not always easy to
support.
Ex. exceptions, threads, dynamic heap access

Exploiting architectural features such as cache, distributed processors

and memory
Effective use of a large number of processors

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Compiler Design Considerations

Debugging Compilers

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Designed to aid in the development and debugging of

programs.

Optimizing Compilers
Designed to produce efficient target code

Retargetable Compilers
A compiler whose target architecture can be changed
without its machine-independent components having to be
rewritten.

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Compiler-Construction Tools
Software development tools are available to
implement one or more compiler phases

Scanner generators
Parser generators
Syntax-directed translation engines
Automatic code generators
Data-flow engines
Compiler-construction toolkits