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Semantic analysis or context sensitive analysis is a process in compiler construction, usually after parsing, to gather necessary semantic information from the source code. [1] It usually includes type checking , or makes sure a variable is declared before use which is impossible to describe in the extended Backus–Naur form and thus not ...
Denotational semantic descriptions can also serve as compositional translations from a programming language into the denotational metalanguage and used as a basis for designing compilers. Operational semantics , [ 7 ] whereby the execution of the language is described directly (rather than by translation).
The AST is used intensively during semantic analysis, where the compiler checks for correct usage of the elements of the program and the language. The compiler also generates symbol tables based on the AST during semantic analysis. A complete traversal of the tree allows verification of the correctness of the program.
Type errors (such as an attempt to apply the ++ increment operator to a Boolean variable in Java) and undeclared variable errors are sometimes considered to be syntax errors when they are detected at compile-time. It is common to classify such errors as (static) semantic errors instead. [2] [3] [4]
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In computing, compiler correctness is the branch of computer science that deals with trying to show that a compiler behaves according to its language specification. [ citation needed ] Techniques include developing the compiler using formal methods and using rigorous testing (often called compiler validation) on an existing compiler.
This perception changed gradually after the release of the Purdue Compiler Construction Tool Set around 1992, when it was demonstrated that many programming languages can be parsed efficiently by an LL(k) parser without triggering the worst-case behavior of the parser. Moreover, in certain cases LL parsing is feasible even with unlimited lookahead.
Most compilers have at least the following compiler phases (which therefore occur at compile-time): syntax analysis, semantic analysis, and code generation.During optimization phases, constant expressions in the source code can also be evaluated at compile-time using compile-time execution, which reduces the constant expressions to a single value.