Programming Language and

Compiler Design

L.Ramkumar
What Is A Programming Language?
 A tool for instructing machines
 A means of communicating between
programmers
 A vehicle for expressing high-level designs
 A notation for algorithms
 A way of expressing relationships between
concepts
 A tool for experimentation
 A means for controlling computerized
devices
Levels
 Gross distinction between
programming language
 Based on readability
 Based on independence
 Based on purpose (specific … general)
Levels
 Machine level language
 Assembly level language
 High-level language (3GL)
 Sometimes 4GL - fourth generation
language
Machine Level
 00000010101111001010
 00000010101111001000
 00000011001110101000
 Programs in machine language are
usually unintelligible at the lowest level,
the most detailed level, since they
consists only of 0’s and 1’s
Assembly Language
 Assembly language is a variant of
machine language in which names
and symbols take the place of the
actual codes for machine operations,
values, and storage locations, making
individual instructions more readable.
 Individual instructions in assembly
language are readable, but limitations
of the underlying machine can lead to
convoluted programs.
Basic Concepts of a RAM machine
 Memory: addresses, contents
 Program: instructions
 Input/output: (files)
 Program –
A random access machine
Input
1. M[0] :=0
2. Read (M[1])
3. If M[1] ≥ 0 then goto 5
4. Goto 7
5. M[3] := M[0] – M[1]
Control 6. If M[3] ≥ 0 then goto 16
7. Writeln (M[1])
8. Read (M[2])
9. M[3] := M[2] – M[1]
10. If M[3] ≥ 0 then goto 12
11. Goto 14
12. M[3] := M[1] – M[2]
13. If M[3] ≥ 0 then goto 8
Output
14. M[1] := M[2] – M[0]
15. Goto 3
16. halt

0 1
Memory
High Level
 Readable familiar notations
 Machine independence
 Availability of program libraries
 Consistency check (check data types
Example : Originally written in assembly
language, the unix operating system kernel
was rewritten in the programming language C
in 1973. Ritche [1978] recounts the resulting
benefits

 New users and Programs

 Readability
 Portability
Problems of Scale
 Changes are easy to make
 Isolated program fragments can be
understood
 BUT… one small bug can lead to disaster
 Read the NOT story about Mariner rockets
(Refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_1)
 Notice how the chairman does not
understand that a “small” problem can lead
to devastating result and why it was not
caught
Bugs
 Programming testing can be used to
show the presence of bugs, but never
their absence! - Dijkstra
 Programming Languages can help
 Readable and understandable
 Organize such that parts can be
understood.
Role of Programming Languages
 Art (science) of programming is
organizing complexity
 Must organize in such a way that our
limited powers are sufficient to
guarantee that the computation will
establish the desired effect
 (Dijkstra - structured programming,
sometimes referred to as goto-less
programming)
Programming Paradigms
 Imperative Programming
 Functional Programming
 Object Oriented Programming
 Logic Programming
Imperative Programming
 Imperative Programming are action
oriented; that is, a computation is
viewed as sequence of action.
 Fortran, Pascal and C are general
purpose imperative language.
 Algol 60’s dominated the
programming language scene in
1960’s
 Pascal was designed as a teaching
language.
 C was created in 1972 by Dennis
Ritche as an implementation
language associated with UNIX
operating System
 In 1973 UNIX Operating System was
rewritten in C.
Functional Programming
 The basic concepts of functional languages
originated with Lisp, a language designed in
1958 for applications in artificial
intelligence.
 Lisp is designed primarily for symbolic data
processing.
 Used for symbolic calculation in differential
and integral calculus, electrical circuit
theory, mathematical logic, game playing
and other field of artificial intelligence.
Object Oriented Programming
 Object Oriented Programming owes
much to Simula’s origin in simulation.
 The key concept from Simula is that
of a class of objects.
 C++ and Smalltalk are popular
languages for Object Oriented
Programming.
 C++ was designed to bring the
benefits of objects to imperative
programming in C.
 Smalltalk was designed as part of a
personal computing environment.
 It is an interactive system with a
graphical user interface.
Logic Programming
 Prolog was developed in 1972.
 Prolog uses a specialized form of
logical reasoning to answer queries.
 %% Demo coming from http://clwww.essex.ac.uk/course/LG519/2-facts/index_18.html
 %%
 %% Please load this file into SWI-Prolog
 %%
 %% Sam's likes and dislikes in food
 %%
 %% Considering the following will give some practice
 %% in thinking about backtracking.
 %% ?- likes(sam,dahl).
 %% ?- likes(sam,chop_suey).
 %% ?- likes(sam,pizza).
 %% ?- likes(sam,chips).
 %% ?- likes(sam,curry).

 likes(sam,Food) :-
 indian(Food),
 mild(Food).
 likes(sam,Food) :-
 chinese(Food).
 likes(sam,Food) :-
 italian(Food).
 likes(sam,chips).

 indian(curry).
 indian(dahl).
 indian(tandoori).
 indian(kurma).

 mild(dahl).
 mild(tandoori).
 mild(kurma).

 chinese(chow_mein).
 chinese(chop_suey).
 chinese(sweet_and_sour).

 italian(pizza).
 italian(spaghetti).
Choice of Language
 The choice of programming language
depends in part on the programming
to be done, and in part on external
factors, such as availability, support
and training
Language Implementation
 Compiler - source code it translated
into machine code (all at once)
 Source code is portable – compiled code
is NOT portable
 Interpreter - machine is brought up
to the language (one statement at a
time
 Source code is portable; executable on
any computer (that has an interpreter
for that language)
Mixed mode:
 Compiled to an intermediate code (p-
code)
 P-code is then interpreted

P-code is portable to any computer that has right interpreter

Compiled C

Source Pre- Pre Linker

.o
code procces processed compiler or
files
in C sor code assembler

Machine Machine
Loader codes
code (exe)
Source code language is brought down
to the machine language of that
specific computer
Interpreted Code
 Each instruction is interpreted by
machine interpreter
 Does not produce object code

Machine is brought up to a “virtual machine” that executes the

source code
Comparisons
 Compilation more efficient
 Interpreted more flexible

 Mixed-mode good for distributed

environments (e.g. Web
client/server)
Major Parts of Compilers
 There are two major parts of a compiler: Analysis
and Synthesis

 In analysis phase, an intermediate representation is

created from the given source program.
 Lexical Analyzer, Syntax Analyzer and Semantic
Analyzer are the parts of this phase.
 In synthesis phase, the equivalent target program is
created from this intermediate representation.
 Intermediate Code Generator, Code Generator, and
Code Optimizer are the parts of this phase.
Other Applications
 In addition to the development of a compiler, the
techniques used in compiler design can be applicable
to many problems in computer science.
 Techniques used in a lexical analyzer can be used in
text editors, information retrieval system, and
pattern recognition programs.
 Techniques used in a parser can be used in a query
processing system such as SQL.
 Many software having a complex front-end may need
techniques used in compiler design.
 A symbolic equation solver which takes an equation as
input. That program should parse the given input
equation.
 Most of the techniques used in compiler design can
be used in Natural Language Processing (NLP)
systems.
 Phases of A Compiler
Source Lexical Syntax Semantic Intermediate Code Code Target
Program Analyzer Analyzer Analyzer Code Generator Optimizer Generator Program

 Each phase transforms the source

program from one representationinto
another representation.
 They communicate with error
handlers.
 They communicate with the symbol
table.
Lex and Yacc
 Lex and yacc are tools used to
generate lexical analyzers and
parsers.