Course Overview
Course Learning Objectives
This course examines the fundamental theory and practice of
implementing
today's programming languages.
Students should emerge with a good appreciation for the implementation
issues and strategies behind making programs in high level programming
languages work correctly
and efficiently on a target machine.
A major part of the course is
the practical experience of implementing various phases of a compiler for
a small object-oriented programming language.
Students learn translation
methodology that is useful in many other situations in addition to compilation, including
command interpreters, report-generating systems, programmable applications,
configuration file handling, preprocessors, debuggers, static program analysis tools, testing tools,
virtual machines, integrated development environments, and many other software engineering
tools.
You should consider taking CISC 672 if you are curious about:
- the inner workings of a basic compiler
- the implementation of object-oriented programming language features
- building a large software system starting with a base library of useful utilities
- the answers to many of your questions about how programming languages work
- the issues in gaining good performance from a high level language program on a particular target architecture
AND you have the proper prerequisites. Note: There is no assumption of previous coursework in compilers.
Prerequisite: CISC 320: Algorithms and Advanced Programming or permission of instructor.
Additional Recommended Background:
CISC 601
is helpful, but not required. We will utilize and briefly cover material
from CISC 601 concerning regular languages, finite automata, and the definitions
related to context-free grammars.
Meeting Times: TTh 2:00-3:15 (3 hours) 234 Alison Hall.
Important announcements are usually made at the beginning of class.
Quizzes are also given at the beginning of class EVERY TUESDAY.
Instructor:
Lori Pollock, pollock cis udel edu
436 Smith Hall (831-1953)
Office Hours:
Tuesdays 12:30-1:30PM, Thursdays 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM and by appointment.
Teaching Assistant:
Wei Wang, wwang cis udel edu
103 Smith Hall
Office Hours: Mondays 1:30-2:30PM, Fridays 10:30-11:30AM, 103 Smith.
Content
- Dealing with the form of programs:
- Specification of a language's lexical and syntactic components
- Scanning (lexical analysis) and automatic scanner generation (e.g., lex, flex, JLex)
- Parsing (syntax analysis) and automatic parser generation (e.g., yacc, bison, JavaCup)
- From form to meaning in a portable way:
- Intermediate code representations
- Semantic analysis and intermediate code generation
- Handling scope through symbol table creation and management
- Managing the runtime environment:
- Implementing program flow through the runtime stack
- Managing storage based on object lifetimes
- Specifics to implementing object-oriented languages
- Automatic garbage collection strategies
The Learning Process and Skills Development
Classtime will be devoted to discussions about programming language design choices and the
associated challenges and strategies for implementing the features. Students will be actively
involved in both individual and group projects to
gain experience with the state-of-the-art
tools for implementing programming languages. Each student will learn to automatically
generate scanners and parsers, build analyzers that traverse intermediate representations for
different program analysis and code instrumentation tasks, generate an alternate code representation, and explore
different garbage collection techniques.
Why am I teaching this course?
I'm teaching this course because I believe that programmers have more appreciation for the efficiency of their programs and tradeoffs in language choice when they understand compilation and its challenges, compiler technology has many practical uses beyond building a compiler, and facilitating the learning about compilers is fun.I have been leading research in compilers for a long time - over 20 years. My dissertation was in incremental compilation - the problem of reusing results from previous compilations of the same program in future compilations. We developed techniques to examine a programmer's edits and redo the compilation work to deal only with the edits, without redoing all of the compilation from scratch. In particular, my dissertation focused on the problem of how to perform incremental compilation when the compiler performs optimizing transformations to improve the program's performance. My research group here at UD has made contributions in optimizations of parallel programs to automatically overlap communication and computation, compiler techniques to integrate register allocation and instruction scheduling for better overall program performance, using dynamic compilers for solving software engineering problems, and developing compilation-based techniques for providing mobile code integrity. I also lead a group that applies compiler technology to developing tools for helping programmers during software testing and maintenance.
Course Requirements
Readings
Required Textbook
- Alfred Aho, Monica Lam, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman, Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools, 2/E, Addison-Wesley, 2007, or 1986 edition.
Suggested References
- John Levine, lex & yacc, O'Reilly and Associates, Inc., 1992.
- Engineering a Compiler, Keith D. Cooper, Linda Torczon, Morgan Kaufman Publishers, 2003, ISBN 1-55860-698-X.
- Programming Languages Pragmatics, Michael L. Scott, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2005, ISBN 0126339511.
- Modern Compiler Implementation in Java (Tiger book), A.W. Appel, Cambridge University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-52158-388-8.
Assignments and Grading
Your grade will be based on your performance in the various activities in the course. Some of the activities will be done in groups, and some will be done individually. There will be two in-class examinations. The first exam (at midterm time) will concentrate on the first half of the course, while the second exam (during final exam week) will concentrate on the second half of the course. The relative weights of the components of the grade will be approximately: Your grade will be based on your performance in the various activities in the course. Some of the activities will be done in groups, and some will be done individually. There will be two in-class examinations. The midterm will concentrate on the first half of the course, while the final concentrates on the second half of the course. The relative weights of the components of the grade will be approximately:- (4%) COOL Test Program(s) (individual)
- (5%) Scanner (individual)
- (8%) Parser
- (14%) Semantic Analyzer
- (15%) Code Generator
- (8%) Weekly Quizzes
- (3%) Written/Oral presentation Assignments
- (3%) Class participation and in-class activities, or (approved) department speaker seminars. All of these efforts count toward the class participation grade.
- (20%) First Exam - first half of course
- (20%) Second Exam - second half of course
Readings:
The assigned readings will be posted on the web as the course progresses. The material presented in class will correspond roughly, but not exactly, to the material covered in the readings.Project Materials:
The course web site has links to all needed project ha ndouts (gmake, flex, bison, spim, ...). The project files will be made available at /usa/pollock/public/cool02 on the CIS machines as the course progresses.Programming Environment and Computer Usage:
The project will be written in Java.
The project is typically done in teams of 3, but you are welcome
to tackle it individually or in pairs if desired.
If you are not yet verse in this language, it is suggested that you
read through an appropriate Java book and
familiarize yourself with the language by writing some small programs.
The last project will involve learning some of the MIPS assembly language.
The testing of the last phase must be done on
the SPIM simulator.
You will use JLex and
CUP.
Each quiz will take about 5 minutes at the beginning of class. It
will contain 1-2 short questions based on recent class discussions and
readings.
There will be a quiz EVERY TUESDAY, unless announced otherwise. The
quiz will focus on the previous week's classroom and reading topics.
Each student's lowest quiz grade will not be counted toward their
final grade.
Thus, there WILL BE NO MAKEUP quizzes. Any missed quizzes will be counted
as zeros in the grading scheme above. Thus, if you miss more than one
quiz, all additional missed quizzes and all other quiz grades will be
counted toward your final grade.
My philosophy on late assignments is:
(1) Everyone should try their best to complete all assignments by the
specified due date. (2) People who work conscientiously to make the deadlines should
be rewarded for their promptness and sacrifice of sleep. Thus, allowing others to hand
in late assignments without some penalty is not fair to these people. However, there
are various circumstances that may prevent you from completing an assignment by
the due date. Allowing no late assignments would not give you much incentive to
continue to work on the assignment, which is a major source of learning in this course.
Thus, I believe late assignments are better than no assignment.
Unless otherwise stated, late assignments will be penalized 5% off the total possible points if turned
in within the first 24-hour period after the specified due date and time,
and 5% per 24-hour period (or fraction of a day) (including weekends)
after that time, up to a week after the due date.
Late assignments will be accepted with penalty up to one week after
the due date. Assignments submitted at any later time without
an approved excuse will not be accepted.
It is up to you to determine the version of your assignment
to be graded. You must weigh the
late penalty against the completeness of your assignment.
If you are dissatisfied with a grade on a homework, programming assignment,
or exam,
you should consult the instructor directly within a week of the day the
graded assignment was returned to you. No regrade requests will be considered
after this week period.
With your permission, grades will be posted electronically via a link
on the course web site. You will need to give me a secret code name for
this posting in order to keep your grade posting
anonymous. If no name is given, I will assume you do not want your
grades to appear.
Questions about accuracy of recorded grades should be
addressed to me.
You will be told specifically which assignments are to be done collaboratively
in groups, and which ones should be done individually without collaboration.
For individual assignments, you should be directing your questions to
the instructor, not to other students, unless the question is a clarification
question.
Any evidence of collaboration other than this kind
will be handled as stated in the Official Student Handbook of the University of Delaware.
You should not be using or examining any program code used for projects for
this course in any prior instantiations of this course.
If you are in doubt regarding the requirements,
please consult with me before you complete any requirement of this course.
This course requires a significant amount of programming. You are allowed to
choose a programming partner for some or all of the programming assignments.
This document should make it very clear what is and what isn't considered acceptable
collaboration, so there is no ambiguity.
The general premise of this policy is that your submissions must be your own
independent and original work. You should not give or receive any aid which
makes the assigned tasks significantly easier. Discussion and
help is allowed among students, but it is expected that
you document any significant help that you
receive. On my part, I will treat you with trust and will protect the honorable
student's interests by investigating and prosecuting dishonorable behavior.
Two students engaging in a more detailed discussion of the project specifics
can cross into the area of collaboration that is acceptable only if documented.
I require that you include the name of those whom you received specific
assistance from and properly credit their contribution, as you would cite a
reference in a research paper. Some examples: Above all you should use your common sense. If you suspect
that what you are about to do is a violation, play it safe and ask a staff
member first rather than take risks with your academic career. Cheating is taken very seriously in this course.
Please do your part in maintaining a community where academic work is
done with a high standard of integrity! Some parts of this document are based on a similar
collaboration policy for CS courses at Brown, Drexel, and Stanford.
Weekly Quizzes
The goals of the weekly quizzes are as follows:
How to Increase your Learning in CISC 672
Course Policies
The due dates are to be taken seriously and you should not expect
them to be extended. The pace of work is implicit in the due
dates and necessary if you expect to finish by the end of the semester.
Homeworks to be graded should be turned in at the start of class on the specified due date.
Programming assignments should be dated before 11:59 PM on the due date.
NO late programs or homeworks will be accepted FOR FULL CREDIT without
discussion with me prior to the due date. If you can not reach me, leave a message on my voicemail.
All other assignments not delivered
by the due date are considered late.
Regrading Policy:
Posting Grades:
Policy on Academic Dishonesty
Collaboration Policy:
General philosophy
Collaboration on coding projects
"Your code is like your boyfriend or girlfriend. It's okay to
talk about it on an abstract, high level. But you don't want to go into the
specific details, and you certainly don't want to share."
For the purposes of the collaboration policy, students
choosing to work with a partner are effectively considered as one entity, and
are freely allowed to exchange, help, design, and code with one other, but the
guidelines below apply outside the partnership (neither of you should be
debugging, sharing code, etc. with other people or teams). There are also some
specific rules that apply within the partnership.
Things that are always allowed
These things are encouraged and allowed
at all times for all students.
Collaboration that is allowed if documented
Collaboration that is NOT allowed
Basically, the rule is that you should
be handing in code which represents your original, independent work. It should
not be based on, influenced by, or copied from anyone else's.
Closing thoughts