COMP 412: Topics in Compiler Construction
Keith Cooper
Department of Computer Science
Rice University
Houston, Texas, USA
Fall 2009: Room 1046, Duncan Hall, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 11:00am

Notes

Summary

Comp 412 provides the student with an overview of the issues that arise in the design and construction of translators for programming languages. The course emphasizes techniques that have direct application to the construction of compilers. However, many of the same concepts find application in the implementation of interpreters.

The course consists of lectures, homework assignments, exams, and several laboratory exercises. A schedule for labs and examinations will be posted soon. The lectures correspond, with a few detours, to a front-to-back tour of a compiler. The programming exercises attempt to illuminate particular problems. Students will not build a complete compiler in the course.

We will use the book Engineering a Compiler, by Cooper and Torczon, published by the Morgan-Kaufmann imprint of Elsevier. Copies can be purchased at the Rice Campus bookstore or your favorite online retailer. Be sure to visit the Errata site; it contains a partial list of errors in the first printing. (The version available on BitTorrent is an early manuscript and differs significantly from both the first and second printing of the published book. The authors donate the share of royalites that would be generated by the number of students enrolled in Comp 412 to the Torczon fellowship fund at Rice University.)

One problem with using a text written by the professor is that the lectures and the book take, largely, the same approach to the material. You are encouraged to consult other texts and other sources; a number of other texts will be on reserve in Fondren Library. They can provide additional sources of enlightenment and alternative viewpoints on the material covered in the course.

Lecture Notes

I will post PDF-format copies of the slides used in class as they become available. Typically, they will be available several hours before lecture. In previous years, students have found it effective to print the small form of the slides and use them to take notes.

Programming Assignments

The class will have three major programming exercises. The materials for the labs will only be available online. The teaching assistants will establish a newsgroup for discussion of the course and the programming assignments.

The philosophy for programming exercises in Comp 412 is simple. Each lab is intended to have a high ratio of thought to programming. Thus, you will build components that might fit into a compiler, rather than building a complete compiler. We have abstracted away much of the routine work and focused the labs on tasks that should give you deeper insight into a specific problem---register allocation, parsing, and instruction scheduling.

Homework

The class will have periodic homework assignments. Again, the point of the homework is to cement concepts in your mind by having you use those concepts. Homework is not intended as busywork or punishment. It is an essential part of the learning experience.

Homework assignments are only posted online.

Supplemental Material

From time to time, I may post additional material that relates to the topics being covered in class.

Personnel

Comp 412 Home Last modified Monday, 18-Jan-2010 22:39:34 CST.