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LN1 - C1 - Introduction To Compilers

This document discusses compilers and interpreters. A compiler translates source code into target code while an interpreter directly executes operations. Compilers produce faster executable programs while interpreters provide better error diagnostics by executing statement by statement.

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Mehrab Rabbi Ratin
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39 views4 pages

LN1 - C1 - Introduction To Compilers

This document discusses compilers and interpreters. A compiler translates source code into target code while an interpreter directly executes operations. Compilers produce faster executable programs while interpreters provide better error diagnostics by executing statement by statement.

Uploaded by

Mehrab Rabbi Ratin
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CSE4129: Formal languages and Compilers : Lecture 1

Introduction to Compilers

- Before a program can be run, it first must be translated into a form in which it can
be executed by a computer.
- The software systems that do this translation are called compilers.
- We will try to learn the different forms of language translators and a high-level
overview of the structure of a typical compiler.

- Compiler: A compiler is a program that can read a program in one language – the
source language – and translate it into an equivalent program in another language
– the target language.
- The name Compiler is primarily used for programs that translate source code from
a high-level programming language to a lower-level language to create an
executable program.
- An important role of the compiler is to report any errors in the source program that
it detects during the translation process.

Source program → Compiler → Target program

- If the target program is an executable machine-language program, it can then be


called by the user to process inputs and produce output.

Input → Target program → Output

- Interpreter: It is another common kind of language processor. Instead of


producing a target program as a translation, an interpreter appears to directly
execute the operations specified in the source program on inputs supplied by the
user.

Source program → → Output


Interpreter
Input →

- The machine-language target program produced by a compiler is usually much


faster than an interpreter at mapping inputs to outputs.

- An interpreter, however, can usually give better error diagnostics than a compiler,
because it executes the source program statement by statement.
CSE4129: Formal languages and Compilers : Lecture 1

- In addition to a compiler, several other programs may be required to create an


executable target program.
- A source program may be divided into modules stored in separate files. The task
of collecting the source program is sometimes entrusted to a separate program,
called a preprocessor.
- The modified source program is then fed to a compiler. The compiler may produce
an assembly-language program as its output, because assembly language is
easier to produce as output and is easier to debug.

- The assembly language is then processed by a program called an assembler that


produces relocatable machine code as its output.
- Large programs are often compiled in pieces, so the relocatable machine code
may have to be linked together with other relocatable object files and library files
into the code that actually runs on the machine. The linker resolves external
memory addresses, where the code in one file may refer to a location in another
file. The loader then puts together all of the executable object files into memory
for execution.
Source Program

Preprocessor

Modified Source Program

Compiler

Target Assembly Program

Assembler

Relocatable Machine Code

Linker/Loader

Target Machine code

Fig: A Language Processing System


CSE4129: Formal languages and Compilers : Lecture 1

Structure of a Compiler

Source Program/Character Stream

1
Lexical Analyzer

Token Stream
2
Syntax Analyzer

Syntax Tree
3
8 Semantic Analyzer 9
Symbol Table
Management Syntax Tree Error handling
4 and recovery
Intermediate Code Generator

Intermediate Representation
5
Machine-Independent Code Optimizer

Intermediate Representation
6
Code Generator
7 Target Machine
Code
Machine-Dependent Code Optimizer

Target Machine Code

Major Phases of a Compiler with phase inputs and outputs

- The structure of a Compiler can be mapped into two parts: Analysis (Front End) and
Synthesis (Back End).
CSE4129: Formal languages and Compilers : Lecture 1

Analysis Phase:
- Analysis phase reads the source program and splits it into multiple tokens and constructs
the intermediate representation of the source program.
- It also checks and indicates the syntax and semantic errors of a source program.
- It collects information about the source program and prepares the symbol table. Symbol
table will be used all over the compilation process.
- This is also called as the front end of a compiler.

Synthesis Phase:
-It will get the analysis phase input (intermediate representation and symbol table) and
produces the targeted machine level code.
-This is also called as the back end of a compiler.

Questions:
1. What is the difference between a compiler and an interpreter?
2. What are the advantages of (a) a compiler over an interpreter (b) an interpreter
over a compiler?

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