Compilers are software programs that convert code in a source language into another target language. The most common type are compilers from high-level languages to assembly code. Compilers also include high-level to high-level compilers, regex, database queries, and HTML templates.
Compilers translate from one language to another.
Main functions of compilers:
- To read the input program in its entirety.
- Checks for and reports errors.
- If error-free, we translate to the target language (like machine code).
- And program execution is after compilation.
They’re kinda magic lol http://scheme2006.cs.uchicago.edu/11-ghuloum.pdf
Sub-pages
- Widely available compilers
- Language-specific compilers
- Phases
Structure
Modern compilers contain a number of distinct phases. These steps start by being language-dependent in the compiler front-end, before taking machine-dependent steps (like optimisations). The diagram below shows this structure:1
The role of the front-end is to read the input high-level language, check for errors, and generate an intermediate representation. The optimiser converts IR to IR, and improves it over multiple passes.
More specifically, compiler phases involve these main components:
- Source code is passed into a lexer and parser. This generates an abstract syntax tree.
- The AST is passed into an optimiser. This outputs an internal/intermediate representation.
- This is then passed into a code generator (often called the back-end), for the target language.
See also
Footnotes
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From Computer Organization and Design: RISC-V Edition by David Patterson and John Hennessy. ↩