compiler

This repository contains the code for a compiler implementation for a simple, C-like language that relies on the C tools Flex and Bison.

A comprehensive tutorial series is also available.

The project was unfortunately abandoned for over five years due to the maintainer's time constraints.

Due to the 2020 Steemit dispute, when the project was revitalized the tutorial series resumed on Hive instead.

Prerequisites

• GCC (GNU Compiler Collection)
• Make
• Flex (derivative of Lex)
• Bison (derivative of Yacc)
• QtSpim (MIPS32 Simulator)

Basic Installation

Linux

For Arch-based distributions:

sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S --needed base-devel

Note: base-devel includes gcc, make, flex, bison, and other core development tools. Alternatively, you can install each separately.

For Debian-based distributions

sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential flex bison

Note: build-essential includes gcc, make, and other core build tools. Alternatively, you can install each separately.

For Fedora-based distributions

sudo dnf makecache
sudo dnf group install development-tools
sudo dnf install flex flex-devel bison bison-devel

Note: development-tools group includes gcc, make, and other core build tools. Alternatively, you can install each separately.

Windows

It is highly recommended that you use a Linux distribution instead, through any method you prefer.

Options include:

• Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), preferably version 2
• Docker or Podman containers
• Virtual Machines

MacOS

I am not very familiar with Macintosh systems. However, it seems that you first need to install Apple's command-line developer tools, which will provide you with make, clang and gcc (via clang), as well as other development tools. Next, install a package manager such as Homebrew (brew), through which you can then install flex and bison.

xcode-select --install
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
brew install flex bison

Getting Started

Clone the repository and change into the directory:

git clone https://github.com/drifter1/compiler.git
cd compiler

To build the compiler simply type make in this directory.

By default, the executable will be located in the subdirectory bin and called compiler.

Examples are included in the examples subdirectory. You can compile example1.c in the Simple-C language via:

./bin/compiler examples/simple_c_examples/example1.c

This will print out parsing debugging information in the terminal console and also create a symtab_dump_out file.

terminal output:

Inserted i for the first time with linenumber 1!
Inserted val for the first time with linenumber 2!
Found i again at line 3!
Found i again at line 3!
Found i again at line 3!
Found val again at line 4!
Found val again at line 4!
Found i again at line 4!
Found i again at line 4!
Inserted print for the first time with linenumber 6!
Found val again at line 6!

symtab_dump.out

------------ ------ ------------
Name         Type   Line Numbers
------------ ------ -------------
i            undef     1    3    3    3    4    4 
val          undef     2    4    4    6 
print        undef     6 

Articles

The complete list of articles can be found here.

Next Up

• Machine Code generation in MIPS Assembly (remaining cases)
• Optimizations in the compiler's source code