ITEC 460
TRANSLATOR DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

1. Catalog Entry

ITEC 460. Translator Design and Construction
Three hours lecture (3).

Prerequisites: ITEC 352 and ITEC 380.

Logical design of and construction techniques for compilers and interpreters. Students will complete a major project implementing a compiler or an interpreter. Students who have received credit for CPSC 460 may not receive credit for ITEC 460.

2. Detailed Description of Content of Course

Topics covered:

1. Background

a. Translation and interpretation
b. Formal languages

2. Scanners
3. Parsing
4. Compiler writing tools
5. Symbol tables
6. Code generation

a. Control structures
b. Storage management
c. Data types
d. Procedures
e. Optimization

These topics represent the fundamentals of translator construction and are covered in virtually all introductory text books.

3. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course

Course material is primarily covered in lecture and in the student's reading of the text. A large amount of the student's time outside of class is spent designing and implementing a compiler. The language that is compiled may be specified by the instructor or designed by the student.

4. Goals and Objectives of the Course

1. To provide students an understanding of the theory and practice of translator design and construction.
2. To provide students the experience of designing and implementing a nontrivial compiler.
3. To expose students to translator construction tools such as Lex and Yacc.

5. Assessment Measures

Graded assignments include at least one in-class exam, a final exam, problem sets, and the compiler. Evaluation of the compiler will be based on the proportion of the source language that is successfully translated and on the quality of its implementation.

6. Other Course Information

None.

7. Review and Approval

DATE ACTION APPROVAL
September 2001 Updated John P. Helm, Chair