Retargetable C Compiler, A: Design and Implementation

by David R. Hanson, Christopher Fraser

This new text examines the design and implementation of Icc, a production-quality, retargetable compiler, designed at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Princeton University for the ANSI C programming language. The authors' innovative approach - a "literate program" that intermingles the text with the source code - gives a detailed tour of the code that explains the implementation and design decisions reflected in the software. And while most books describe toy compilers or focus on isolated pieces of code, the authors have made available the entire source code for a real compiler. Structured as a self-study guide that describes the real-world tradeoffs encountered in building a production-quality compiler, A Retargetable C Compiler is also useful to individuals who work in application areas using or creating language-based tools and techniques. Features: discusses the implementation and design tradeoffs made while constructing a real ANSI C compiler, illustrating the interaction between theory and practice; covers compiler theory only as needed to understand the implementation of Icc, focusing instead on practical, applied issues; encourages a deeper understanding of programming in C, by providing C programmers with a tour of the language from the perspective of compiler authors; includes coverage of code generators for the MIPS R3000, SPARC, and Intel 386 and its successors; and provides access to the full source code for the Icc compiler, the three back ends, and the code-generator generator, either on disk or via FTP.

Genres: Programming, Computer Science, Computers

584 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 1995

Reviews

[Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere between three and four stars. I had dipped into this book a few times before, but decided now was a good time to see what the experience was like of reading it cover to cover, both as a book and as a literate program. I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable it was. LCC is an unusual compiler in many ways, and it was nice seeing discussion of the tradeoffs taken interwoven with the implementation. I didn't expect to enjoy the frontend as much as I did (normally a pretty boring part of many compilers); there were lots of gems of strange C behavior there. This would be even moreso if only someone would take on the same effort for a tiny compiler targeting C11.

[xvvifzmrr- · Rating 4 out of 5]

friendly to newbie.
ch12-15 impressive to me.