Week 3 of compiler construction
Dear IN5380-student,
This week we have covered grammars, which is how we specify the syntax of a language. We have seen some examples of grammars, using BNF notation, and seen how we can derive words from the grammar. The process of deriving a word of the grammar is captured by a tree, and this tree is called a parse tree (or synonymously, a concrete syntax tree). A parse tree often contains redundant information, and might not be the most convenient representation of a program. The decisions we make about what information to keep, what to discard, and what to "reshape", yields an abstract syntax tree.
In the next few weeks, we will look at parsing, which is the process of taking a token stream, and converting it to an abstract syntax tree.
No lecture next week
Due to scheduling problems, we have to cancel next week's lectures. The web course outlines what we cover from week to week. As you might notice, there is not too much content in week 4 and 5.
As we skip next week's lectures, we will try to cover the material from week 4 and 5 in the week that follows. As there is no lecture next week, you should come prepared to the week after, having read sections 4.1 and 4.2 in the script, or watched the corresponding videos in the web course.
This way, we don't have to delay everything.
See you in two weeks,
- Lars