5 ms·

Just what I love, a scientific and pedagogic CS article, in well formulated English. I would appreciate some introductory notes or links to prerequisites thoug

by dsco 9y ago

Just what I love, a scientific and pedagogic CS article, in well formulated English. I would appreciate some introductory notes or links to prerequisites though. That would perhaps entice an audience who has no previous experience in writing compilers.

giancarlostoro 9y ago
I really want to be able to wrap my head around compilers but I'm not sure what a good "user friendly" resource is that wont stuff lots of fancy compiler buzzwords in my face and become white noise to me.
- shakna 9y ago
  Lisp In Small Pieces would be my reccomendation. A relatively small book that takes you through writing 11 interpreters and 2 compilers.
  - csl 9y ago
    Is it really that friendly when starting out, though? I found it brilliant, but quite the challenging read. I'd rather just read chapters four and five of SICP [1] and move on to Queinnec as a follow-up on more advanced topics. [1]: The book is free as well: https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-4.html#%_toc_start https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-4.html...
    - shakna 9y ago
      To be honest, I found LISP to be a lot easier than SICP, but that's probably just some learning styles stuff at play. SICP being freely available in both book form, and the lectures [0] makes it one of the best resources out there. (I just never found it's section on compilers that helpful. Again, probably learning styles.) [0] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB63C06FAF154F047 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB63C06FAF154F047
      - csl 9y ago
        Maybe I need to reread LISP, then. I agree that SICP is laser-focused on Scheme, and thus leaves out general compilation techniques.
- Waterluvian 9y ago
  This isn't about wrapping one's head around a compiler, but I thought you might find it useful. https://medium.freecodecamp.org/the-programming-language-pipeline-91d3f449c919 https://medium.freecodecamp.org/the-programming-language-pip... I enjoyed this read because it was a very user-friendly overview. After reading, I knew exactly what major pieces did what and therefore what to search for next on my own terms.
- weberc2 9y ago
  I'm writing my first compiler now, and it's been quite a learning curve. I've also realized how much nicer my language is for writing compilers than the language in which I'm implementing the compiler. That made me realize I could write the compiler in my language and then write an interpreter for my language which would only need to run once--to generate the compiler--after which point my compiler would be self-hosting. :p
  - giancarlostoro 9y ago
    Do you mind sharing some of the resources you're using to learn? Book titles or URLs?
    - weberc2 9y ago
      I haven't looked at any resources in particular. Basically my compiler has 3 parts--parser -> type checker -> code generation. Parsing was tricky at first, but then I stumbled upon a pattern which is pretty close to parser-combinators. Type checking seemed daunting, but my language happened to be Hindley-Milner compatible, and there's lots of reference information for HM. Code generation is easy in the base case, but I'm still wrapping my mind around template expansion.
    - abecedarius 9y ago
      I wrote https://codewords.recurse.com/issues/seven/dragon-taming-with-tailbiter-a-bytecode-compiler https://codewords.recurse.com/issues/seven/dragon-taming-wit... about a tutorial-level compiler written in itself. Of course, a recommendation from someone who's learned from it instead of from the author would give a better signal. I also recommended the same Wirth book as lboasso, and a couple other books, down at the bottom of the page.
- lboasso 9y ago
  I would recommend "Compiler Construction" by Niklaus Wirth. This small book (< 200 pages) will teach you the basics and show you how to build a single-pass compiler for a subset of Oberon (a Pascal successor). The book is freely available here: http://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/CompilerConstruction/index.html http://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/CompilerConstruction/index.h... For a more comprehensive example, you can have a look at my compiler for the full Oberon language targeting the JVM. It is based on the principles of that book: https://github.com/lboasso/oberonc https://github.com/lboasso/oberonc
  - i_don_t_know 9y ago
    I second the recommendation. Wirth's compiler book is a wonderful, concise and very readable introduction.
- ioddly 9y ago
  Start simple. If you haven't written an interpreter, do that first. Then figure out how to write a similar program that emits code for a virtual machine rather than evaluating the language. I'd keep an eye on http://www.craftinginterpreters.com/contents.html http://www.craftinginterpreters.com/contents.html, although it hasn't gotten to compilation yet (I think).
- tekknolagi 9y ago
  I'm actually trying to write an easy-to-digest compiler and companion reading series. It's for a compilers independent study class. You can track my progress here: https://github.com/tekknolagi/tigress https://github.com/tekknolagi/tigress At this point it's not well-documented, but the layers are numbered in order: l00, l01, l02... Each builds on top of the previous one. EDIT: I just added a mini evaluator for debugging purposes and so people can see what the language is like.
- userbinator 9y ago
  that wont stuff lots of fancy compiler buzzwords in my face and become white noise to me. Crenshaw's tutorial fits this perfectly: https://compilers.iecc.com/crenshaw/ https://compilers.iecc.com/crenshaw/ x86 version here: http://www.pp4s.co.uk/main/tu-trans-comp-jc-intro.html http://www.pp4s.co.uk/main/tu-trans-comp-jc-intro.html
  - lboasso 9y ago
    I think Wirth's compiler book is more approachable for a beginner. Once you are done with that book you can also read "Project Oberon" from the same author. This way you can understand the implementation of a full graphical OS written from scratch for a custom made RISC processor implemented on a FPGA. The book and source code are available at: http://www-oldurls.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/ProjectOberon/ http://www-oldurls.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/ProjectOberon/
- sn9 9y ago
  Stanford Lagunita has Stanford's Compilers course available for free, with the usual undergraduate prerequisites.

by dsco 9y ago

giancarlostoro 9y ago

I really want to be able to wrap my head around compilers but I'm not sure what a good "user friendly" resource is that wont stuff lots of fancy compiler buzzwords in my face and become white noise to me.

shakna 9y ago
Lisp In Small Pieces would be my reccomendation. A relatively small book that takes you through writing 11 interpreters and 2 compilers.
- csl 9y ago
  Is it really that friendly when starting out, though? I found it brilliant, but quite the challenging read. I'd rather just read chapters four and five of SICP [1] and move on to Queinnec as a follow-up on more advanced topics. [1]: The book is free as well: https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-4.html#%_toc_start https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-4.html...
  - shakna 9y ago
    To be honest, I found LISP to be a lot easier than SICP, but that's probably just some learning styles stuff at play. SICP being freely available in both book form, and the lectures [0] makes it one of the best resources out there. (I just never found it's section on compilers that helpful. Again, probably learning styles.) [0] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB63C06FAF154F047 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB63C06FAF154F047
    - csl 9y ago
      Maybe I need to reread LISP, then. I agree that SICP is laser-focused on Scheme, and thus leaves out general compilation techniques.
Waterluvian 9y ago
This isn't about wrapping one's head around a compiler, but I thought you might find it useful. https://medium.freecodecamp.org/the-programming-language-pipeline-91d3f449c919 https://medium.freecodecamp.org/the-programming-language-pip... I enjoyed this read because it was a very user-friendly overview. After reading, I knew exactly what major pieces did what and therefore what to search for next on my own terms.
weberc2 9y ago
I'm writing my first compiler now, and it's been quite a learning curve. I've also realized how much nicer my language is for writing compilers than the language in which I'm implementing the compiler. That made me realize I could write the compiler in my language and then write an interpreter for my language which would only need to run once--to generate the compiler--after which point my compiler would be self-hosting. :p
- giancarlostoro 9y ago
  Do you mind sharing some of the resources you're using to learn? Book titles or URLs?
  - weberc2 9y ago
    I haven't looked at any resources in particular. Basically my compiler has 3 parts--parser -> type checker -> code generation. Parsing was tricky at first, but then I stumbled upon a pattern which is pretty close to parser-combinators. Type checking seemed daunting, but my language happened to be Hindley-Milner compatible, and there's lots of reference information for HM. Code generation is easy in the base case, but I'm still wrapping my mind around template expansion.
  - abecedarius 9y ago
    I wrote https://codewords.recurse.com/issues/seven/dragon-taming-with-tailbiter-a-bytecode-compiler https://codewords.recurse.com/issues/seven/dragon-taming-wit... about a tutorial-level compiler written in itself. Of course, a recommendation from someone who's learned from it instead of from the author would give a better signal. I also recommended the same Wirth book as lboasso, and a couple other books, down at the bottom of the page.
lboasso 9y ago
I would recommend "Compiler Construction" by Niklaus Wirth. This small book (< 200 pages) will teach you the basics and show you how to build a single-pass compiler for a subset of Oberon (a Pascal successor). The book is freely available here: http://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/CompilerConstruction/index.html http://people.inf.ethz.ch/wirth/CompilerConstruction/index.h... For a more comprehensive example, you can have a look at my compiler for the full Oberon language targeting the JVM. It is based on the principles of that book: https://github.com/lboasso/oberonc https://github.com/lboasso/oberonc
- i_don_t_know 9y ago
  I second the recommendation. Wirth's compiler book is a wonderful, concise and very readable introduction.
ioddly 9y ago
Start simple. If you haven't written an interpreter, do that first. Then figure out how to write a similar program that emits code for a virtual machine rather than evaluating the language. I'd keep an eye on http://www.craftinginterpreters.com/contents.html http://www.craftinginterpreters.com/contents.html, although it hasn't gotten to compilation yet (I think).
tekknolagi 9y ago
I'm actually trying to write an easy-to-digest compiler and companion reading series. It's for a compilers independent study class. You can track my progress here: https://github.com/tekknolagi/tigress https://github.com/tekknolagi/tigress At this point it's not well-documented, but the layers are numbered in order: l00, l01, l02... Each builds on top of the previous one. EDIT: I just added a mini evaluator for debugging purposes and so people can see what the language is like.
userbinator 9y ago
that wont stuff lots of fancy compiler buzzwords in my face and become white noise to me. Crenshaw's tutorial fits this perfectly: https://compilers.iecc.com/crenshaw/ https://compilers.iecc.com/crenshaw/ x86 version here: http://www.pp4s.co.uk/main/tu-trans-comp-jc-intro.html http://www.pp4s.co.uk/main/tu-trans-comp-jc-intro.html
- lboasso 9y ago
  I think Wirth's compiler book is more approachable for a beginner. Once you are done with that book you can also read "Project Oberon" from the same author. This way you can understand the implementation of a full graphical OS written from scratch for a custom made RISC processor implemented on a FPGA. The book and source code are available at: http://www-oldurls.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/ProjectOberon/ http://www-oldurls.inf.ethz.ch/personal/wirth/ProjectOberon/
sn9 9y ago
Stanford Lagunita has Stanford's Compilers course available for free, with the usual undergraduate prerequisites.