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In more detail, in a compiler, the lexer performs one of the earliest stages of converting the source code to a program. It scans the text to extract meaningful tokens, such as words, numbers, and strings. The parser analyzes sequences of tokens attempting to match them to syntax rules representing language structures, such as loops and ...
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.
Thus in the hack, the lexer calls the semantic analyzer (say, symbol table) and checks if the sequence requires a typedef name. In this case, information must flow back not from the parser only, but from the semantic analyzer back to the lexer, which complicates design.
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]
First published in 1986, it is widely regarded as the classic definitive compiler technology text. [2] It is known as the Dragon Book to generations of computer scientists [3] [4] as its cover depicts a knight and a dragon in battle, a metaphor for conquering complexity. This name can also refer to Aho and Ullman's older Principles of Compiler ...
Regular languages are a category of languages (sometimes termed Chomsky Type 3) which can be matched by a state machine (more specifically, by a deterministic finite automaton or a nondeterministic finite automaton) constructed from a regular expression.