Checkpoint 1

Question 1

What does the tipc compiler do?

Answer 1

TIP to LLVM

Question 2

Why study compilers?

Answer 2

• Learn ins and outs of both source and target language
• Appreciate current limits of compilers
• Learn how to help it do its job
• Implement your own DSL

Question 3

Arrays vs your own pointer math?

Answer 3

Arrays! Compiler is smarter than you

Question 4

Standard Imperative Language

Answer 4

this is the input language/source language, like C and Java and tipc, defines various computations, states (variables, objects, arrays), and non semantic content

Question 5

Compiler Output

Answer 5

Machine code that includes load/store instructions, math/logical instructions, branch instructions… also state (registers)

Question 6

DSL

Answer 6

domain specific language, language that is focussed on specific applications… need to know about compilers b4 building a dsl (HTML, MATLAB, XML)

Question 7

Source to middle vs middle to end

Answer 7

Analyze at beginning, synthesize at the end

Question 8

Scanner?

Answer 8

takes source code and creates tokens

Question 9

Parser?

Answer 9

takes tokens and puts structure to it using a parse tree

Question 10

Weeding

Answer 10

puts Parse tree into AST

Question 11

Middle End stages/what happens?

Answer 11

semantic routines!… traverse AST and derive additional meaning from the rules of the grammar

Question 12

Back End stages?

Answer 12

Code generation, Optimization, Emit Target Code

Question 13

Compilers exist to…

Answer 13

translate and improve programs

Question 14

Other parts that work to transform source code to executables….

Answer 14

Preprocessor, Compiler (creates assembly), Assembler(creates .o), Linker

Question 15

What stage does IR generation occur? How is it created? WHat is IR?

Answer 15

• Semantic Routines.
• IR = simplified form of assembly
• IR is created by doing a post order traversal of the AST

Question 16

Rice’s theroem

Answer 16

Any non-trivial property of the behavior of programs

in a Turing-complete language is undecidable!

Question 17

• Approximate answers may be decidable!

Answer 17

true

Question 18

The engineering challenge is to give the useful answer

often enough to fuel the client application

Answer 18

This is the hard part about static analysis!

Question 19

Program is a collection of functions

Answer 19

!