Compilers and Interpreters

This is the home page for the course DT501A Compilers and Interpreters for MSc in Engineering (in Swedish: Kompilatorer och interpretatorer för civilingenjörer) given by Örebro University in study period 2 (October-January) autumn semester 2024. These web pages contain lab instructions and some other texts. There is also a page in Blackboard, where news and notifications will be published.

The course is given in Swedish, but most of the written material is in English.

Quick links: Weekly plan | Lectures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 | Exercises: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | Assignments 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 (7)

General information about the course

Course Plan (in Swedish)
- Saved copy from 2024-10-28
Schedule (today)
- Saved copy from 2024-10-28
Course content and lecture plan, with links to lecture notes.
Staff:
- Thomas Padron-McCarthy (thomas.padron-mccarthy@oru.se)
Betygskriterier (Critera for grades), in Swedish
Before you can hand in or demonstrate the assignments, you need to do this basic cheating test (in Swedish). Or discuss it with the teacher!

News

News are published as announcements ("anslag") in Blackboard, and Blackboard will also send them to you as e-mail. Check that you have a working e-mail address!

Lectures from 2022 on YouTube, in English

The lectures from 2022 have been recorded and collected in the YouTube playlist Compilers and Interpreters 2022. These video lectures are in English.

Nr	Content	Video
1	Compilers - what, how and why?	The Basics of Compilers: Compilers, Interpreters and Phases
2	Syntax and grammars	Compilers, Languages and Grammars
3	Syntactic analysis ("parsing"). A very simple compiler.	Top-Down Parsers
4	More about syntactic analys. Bottom-up parsing. Parser-generators.	Bottom-Up Parsers
5	Yacc/Bison	Yacc/Bison
6	Lexical analysis ("scanning"). Lex/Flex. Regular expressions.	Lex/Flex (new version)
7	Syntax-directed translation. Building syntax trees.	Constructing Syntax Trees
8	Run-time-omgivningar. Skräpsamling.	The Run-Time Environment
9	Executing the syntax tree. Stack machines.	Interpreters
10	The Semantic Phase. Type Systems. Type Checking.	The Semantic Phase and Type Systems
11	Machine-Independent Optimization. Intermediate Code. Treadresskod. Three-Address Code.	Optimization and Intermediate Code
12	More About Optimization. The Code Generator.	More About Optimization

Lectures from 2019 on YouTube, in Swedish

The lectures from 2019 have been recorded and collected in the YouTube playlist Kompilatorer och interpretatorer 2019. These video lectures are in Swedish.

Nr	Content	Video
1	Kompilatorer - vad, hur och varför?	del 1, del 2
2	Syntax och grammatiker	del 1, del 2
3	Syntaktisk analys ("parsning"). En mycket enkel kompilator.	del 1, del 2
4	Mer om syntaktisk analys. Bottom-up parsing. Parser-generatorer.	del 1, del 2
5	Yacc och Bison	del 1, del 2
6	Lexikalisk analys ("scanning"). Lex och Flex. Reguljära uttryck.	del 1, del 2
7	Syntax-styrd översättning. Att bygga syntax-träd.	del 1, del 2
8	Run-time-omgivningar. Skräpsamling.	del 1, del 2
9	Att exekvera syntaxträdet. Stackmaskiner.	del 1, del 2
10	Typsystem och typkontroll	del 1, del 2
11	Intermediärkod och optimering	del 1, del 2
12	Forts. optimering; Kodgenerering	del 1, del 2

Additional material

The page with lectures and course content contains links to my own lecture notes that I am using, and to course material that is on the web, and references to the course book.
Lab instructions. The lab instructions are written for Linux. If you are more used to Windows and Visual Studio it may be possible, but perhaps not easy, to use that instead. (There are some very old Windows-specific instructions from an earlier year.)
Att komma igång med Linux i Örebro ("Getting started with Linux in Örebro"), also available in English, sort of, courtesy of Google Translate
Some texts about compiler technology.
The source code to the program in section 2.5 of the older edition of the course book.
The source code to the very simple compiler in section 2.9 of the older edition of the course book.
Old exams, in Swedish unless explicitily stated to be in English:
- 2024-08-15 (in English)
- 2024-03-15
- 2024-01-12 med lösningar
- 2023-08-21 (in English)
- 2023-03-13
- 2023-01-11 med lösningar
- 2022-08-24
- 2022-03-17 med vissa lösningar
- 2022-01-13 med lösningar
- 2021-08-27 (hemtenta pga Corona)
- 2021-03-15 (hemtenta pga Corona) med vissa lösningsförslag
- 2021-01-13 (hemtenta pga Corona) med lösningsförslag
- 2020-08-18 (hemtenta pga Corona)
- 2020-03-20 (hemtenta pga Corona)
- 2020-01-13 med lösningar
Old exams from another but similar course, in Swedish unless explicitily stated to be in English:
- 2020-08-18 (hemtenta pga Corona)
- 2020-01-02 (in English)
- 2019-10-28 (in English) with solutions (also in English)
- 2019-01-09
- 2018-10-29 (also available in English) med lösningar
- 2018-08-21
- 2018-01-03
- 2017-10-23 med lösningar
- 2017-01-04
- 2016-10-24 med lösningar
- 2016-08-16
- 2016-01-08
- 2015-10-26 med lösningar
- 2014-12-06
- 2014-11-03 med lösningar
- 2013-12-07
- 2013-11-04 med lösningar
- 2013-08-19
- 2012-12-08
- 2012-11-05 med lösningar
Why is a compiler called a "compiler"?
The AI image generator DALL-E tries to show how a compiler works: A detailed and visually appealing diagram of a compiler consisting of seven distinct phases. Each phase is represented by a different icon or symbol. (DALL-E 2024-07-25).
Another attempt by DALL-E 2024-07-25 where I tried to give it a more detailed prompt: compiler-ai-image-4.png

Literature

Course book Aho, Lam, Sethi, Ullman: Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools, Second Edition, Addison Wesley, 2007. Paperback: ISBN-10 0321491696 ISBN-13 978-0321491695. Hardcover: ISBN-10 0321486811 ISBN-13 978-0321486813. [Link to paperback version on Amazon.co.uk]
The above version seems to be hard to find, and expensive, but there is a new version of the book, with the same content: ISBN-10: 1292024348, ISBN-13: 978-1292024349. Buy it from amazon.co.uk or from amazon.com!

Thomas Padron-McCarthy (thomas.padron-mccarthy@oru.se), October 28, 2024