Compiler Design in C (Prentice-Hall software series) [Hardcover]

Allen I. Holub (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This volume offers unusually accessible, less mathematical coverage of compilers topics -- taking an approach similar to that used by Tanenbaum for operating systems.

From the Back Cover

Introduces the basics of compiler design, concentrating on the second pass (in a typical four-pass compiler), consisting of a lexical analyzer, parser, and a code generator. Uses the C language. Appropriate for compiler courses in CS departments.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1919 pages
• Publisher: Prentice-Hall; 2nd edition (November 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131550454
• ISBN-13: 978-0131550452
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #873,634 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > Compiler Design
  • #72 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > Compilers

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't hesitate to buy this one: you won't be sorry!!, February 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Compiler Design in C (Prentice-Hall software series) (Hardcover)

This book is a must have. It uses the dragon book (Compilers: principles, techniques and tools by Aho et.al) as a model but goes a great deal further in its use of examples when explaining the theory. Whenever I had a little trouble understanding the dragon book or wished that more examples were used I turned to Holub's book. The book is extremely well organized. If you want the theory its all there and if you want to just look at code its all there too: thousands of lines of it! After explaining everything you actually get to see how lex and yacc are built (from the ground up) and finally a C compiler. BUY IT NOW!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My best compiler book, November 2, 2006

By 

Olivier Langlois "www.OlivierLanglois.net" (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Compiler Design in C (Paperback)

This book is more accessible than the Dragon book (Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools) but is less complete. This book presents complete source code for parser generators tools and a C compiler. Even if this book is getting a little bit old and it targets a DOS platform, it should not stop you from acquiring this goldmine of very useful information for anyone interested in compilers for a very reasonable price.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent! Very practical and useful, July 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Compiler Design in C (Prentice-Hall Software Series) (Hardcover)

I have had this book for 8 years. It clearly describes compiler theories and examples. It is very useful when I develop very fast parser. (The code generated by lex isn't fast enough.) I am not in the compiler writing business. This book is perfect for me.