uibk_703602-Compiler-Construction/slides/intro_slides.md

% Compiler Construction % Alex Hirsch % 5 March 2021

This Proseminar

Curriculum

[…] development of a compiler for a simple, procedural programming language

As stated by the curriculum, your task is to build a simple compiler for a small procedural programming language. It's quite hard to fit this goal into the 5 ECTS budget of this module (lecture included), nevertheless I think I found the right trade-offs with the given specification.

Still, it is highly recommended to work in teams and that you start early - always trying to be ahead of schedule.

Prerequisites

• This is a master's course!
• Brain

By now, this course is notorious for requiring a lot of effort. The legends are true; I am indeed expecting a decent level of skill from all of you. This is a master's course after all.

While I don't care whether you have officially finished your bachelor, you should only take this course if you are certain that you meet the prerequisites.

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• Fluent in C (or C++, or Go, or Rust, or Haskell)

  • General programmer mindset
  • Knowing your tools

• Algorithms and data structures

  • Graphs + traversal

• Operating systems

  • Utilising your software stack

• Assembly (preferably x86)

Since this course is very programming intensive, you need to be fluent in one of these languages. If choose C and think strings are compared using `==` you'll have a very hard time.

For OS, if you think calling exec without fork while implementing a library is a good idea, maybe revisiting the OS course would be a good idea.

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• Software development

  • Version control system
  • Build systems
  • Testing

• Project management

  • Organisation
  • Team communication

As already mentioned, the schedule is quite tight, hence good organisation and software development skills are paramount.

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• Formal languages and automata theory
  • Grammars + transformations
  • Lexer / parser

I also recommend doing this course only after having completed FLAT. The lecture and proseminar assumes that you are familiar with the basics of grammars (plus related transformations), lexers, and parsers.

Ultimate Goal

• Building a compiler
  • Specification provided
  • Evaluation scheme provided

Requirements

• Working compiler

Recommended Schedule

• See README

You are free to deviate from this schedule.

Submissions

• End of June: build test submission (optional)
• Mid of July: final submission (no extensions)

Teams

• 1–3 people
• May span across PS groups
• Send me your team composition via mail within March

Further Details

• See course material

https://git.uibk.ac.at/c7031162/703602-Compiler-Construction