An Evaluation of an Automatically Generated Compiler

Anthony M. Sloane*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Cornpders or language trauhlators can be generated using a variety of formal specfrcation techniques. Whether generatlou 1s worthwhile depends on the effort requu-ed to specify the translat Ion task and the quahty of the generated conlpder A systemat IC comparison was conducted between a hand-coded translator for the Icon programming language and one generated by the Eh compiler construction system A du-ect comparison could be made since the generated program performs the same translatlou as the hand-coded program. The results of the comparlsou show that efficieut compilers can be generated from specifications that are much smaller and more problem oriented than the equivalent source code We also found that further work must be done to reduce the dynannc memory usage of the generated cornpders. Categories and Subject Descriptors C.4 [Performance of Systems] Lleasurement techniques, D 2 m [Software Engineering] Miscellaneous-r-eusabk software, D 3-1 [Programming Languages] Processors-translator writing systems [Ind compder generators. General Terms Experunelltatlon Languages Performance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)691-703
Number of pages13
JournalACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems
Volume17
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 1995
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Compder generation

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