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A compiler is likely to perform some or all of the following operations, often called phases: preprocessing, lexical analysis, parsing, semantic analysis (syntax-directed translation), conversion of input programs to an intermediate representation, code optimization and machine specific code generation.
A multi-pass compiler is a type of compiler that processes the source code or abstract syntax tree of a program several times. This is in contrast to a one-pass compiler, which traverses the program only once. Each pass takes the result of the previous pass as the input, and creates an intermediate output.
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.
When code generation occurs at runtime, as in just-in-time compilation (JIT), it is important that the entire process be efficient with respect to space and time. For example, when regular expressions are interpreted and used to generate code at runtime, a non-deterministic finite-state machine is often generated instead of a deterministic one, because usually the former can be created more ...
Most compilers are organized into three stages: a front end, an optimizer, and a back end. The front end is responsible for understanding the program. It makes sure a program is valid and transforms it into an intermediate representation, a data structure used by the compiler to represent
Numerous data structures are available for implementing tables. Trees, linear lists and self-organizing lists can all be used to implement a symbol table. The symbol table is accessed by most phases of a compiler, beginning with lexical analysis, and continuing through optimization.
Abstract syntax trees are data structures widely used in compilers to represent the structure of program code. An AST is usually the result of the syntax analysis phase of a compiler. It often serves as an intermediate representation of the program through several stages that the compiler requires, and has a strong impact on the final output of ...
The name "compiler-compiler" was far more appropriate for Brooker's system than it is for most modern compiler-compilers, which are more accurately described as parser generators. In the early 1960s, Robert McClure at Texas Instruments invented a compiler-compiler called TMG, the name taken from "transmogrification".