Introduction to Compiler Construction

Learn hands-on how to construct a self-compiling compiler in a non-trivial subset of C along with a DLX-based emulator as target and a linker for separate compilation, using nothing but a C compiler for bootstrapping. The course provides an undergraduate-level introduction to compiler construction, covering fundamental topics of compiler construction: scanning, parsing, type checking, error handling, register allocation, code generation, bootstrapping, separate compilation, and basic code optimization; considering fundamental programming language constructs and concepts: assignment, arithmetic and boolean expressions, arrays, records, pointers, conditionals, loops, modules, and procedures with parameters, return values, and local variables. At the end of the course you will be able to appreciate principled engineering of compilers but also know how to actually construct one from scratch and, as a consequence, through insights in programming language semantics that only a compiler can offer, become a fundamentally better programmer and computer scientist.