Customer Reviews

Principles of Compiler Design (Addison-Wesley series in computer science and information processing)

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The quintessential reference for anyone interested in the subject of compiler design and development. This sub-field of Computer Science forms a scientific core the theory of which is universally applicable to so many areas of our field that every professional computer scientist and software developer/programmer should be intimately familiar with the basic tenets included: lexical analysis, parsing, optimization, symbol management, space vs. time considerations, and especially BNF (notation for specifying grammars). Even if you are not a compiler developer and have no intention of becoming one, this knowledge is so fundamental to being a good software developer and intelligent user of compilers that no professional can afford not to have read this book and keep it handy as a reference.

It is really a great book, especially for self study. Unlike newer variations on the same theme that are more concerned with stuffing a book with something that makes the table of contents look attractive, this one really covers things in detail. Very well written too. Books like that re-kindle the '...love of study, a passion which derives fresh vigour from enjoyment...' as Gibbon put it. Makes you suddenly recall why you still are in this damn profession. Keep it handy--for psychological reasons, to be used in moments of Microsoft "technologies" triggered developmental distress.

They used to write good books (tm) <g>

The top researchers in the field give this (by now) legendary compiler book. Crisp and stimulating discussions of the various phases of compilers. A major disadvantage is that examples & exercises are few. While reading the stuff on LALR parsers for the first time one feels woefully lost.... serious stuff intended for careful study - not just another book for perusal.

This book gives a good synopsis of each topic, but you'll have to look elsewhere for detail. For example, when discussing the parsing alogrithms of regular expressions, only a few strategies are mentioned.

Technique of Lixecal Anlyzer and some code