Exercises 2011

Compiler Construction

Timothy G. Griffin

• Lecture 1
• See the "experiments" with test1.c associated with Lecture 1 on the web site. Perform similar experiments with your favorite language (C, Java, ML, etc) on your favorite platform (Linux, Windows, Mac OS, etc). This may require reading your compiler's manual pages, and finding the right applications to turn object files into ASCII.
• Intentionally insert lexical, syntax, or type errors in your input program to test the quality of your compiler's error messages. Report anything unusually amusing.
• Challenge! Try to get your compiler to issue an error message AFTER your program has passed the static semantics phase (type checking, variable scope correctness, etc). Best example will win a Kit-Kat bar (Dr. Tim is the judge of best!).
• Lectures 4 and 5
• I will use Moscow ML http://www.itu.dk/people/sestoft/mosml for some examples during lectures.
• Take a look at the syntax of Moscow ML http://www.itu.dk/people/sestoft/mosml/mosmlref.pdf.
• Compare that with the lexer specification (input to a version of Lex) Lexer.lex.txt (I have added the .txt extension to aid in browsing.)
• Compare that with the parser specification (input to a version of Yacc) Parser.grm.txt (I have added the .txt extension to aid in browsing.)
• Recall the definitions of finite automata http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/0910/RLFA/reglfa.pdf.
• For a fun read, see Kleene's original 1951 paper defining finite automata Representation of Events in Nerve Nets and Finite AUTOMATA.