CSC448: Syllabus

Contact Information

Instructor:	James Riely
Home Page:	`http://www.depaul.edu/~jriely`
Email:	`jriely@cs.depaul.edu`
Phone:	1.312.362.5251
Address:	School of Computing, DePaul University
	243 South Wabash Avenue
	Chicago, IL 60604-2301
Office:	CDM 846
Office Hours:	Tue 3:00-4:00pm, Wed 1:00-2:00pm in CDM 846
Class Page:	`http://www.depaul.edu/~jriely/csc448winter2011`
Class Hours:	Wed 5:45-9:00pm in Lewis 1007 [Section 801]
	Online, Anytime [Section 810]

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Overview

We will cover:

Lexing and parsing; LALR parser generators.
Abstract syntax trees; operations on trees; compiler as sequence of phases operating on abstract syntax trees.
Static Analysis; data flow and control flow analyses; type checking.
Code generation; java bytecode.

As homeworks, we will be doing some of the labs from the text. These use java, eclipse and some other tools:

ant (comes with eclipse)
flex (a scanner generator, similar to lex)
cup (an LALR parser generator, similar to yacc)
jasmin (an assembler for java virtual machine language)

If you prefer not to use eclipse, you can install apache ant and run ant directly from the command line.

Objectives

By the end of this course, you will:

Have a better insight into programming languages, and the relationship between imperative, functional, and object-oriented programming languages.
Find it easier to debug code.
Find it easier to optimize code.
Be able to apply new techniques and tools in your own projects, e.g., parser generators and graph visualization software.

Lecture Plan

The following lecture plan is tentative and subject to change as the course progresses.

Class 1: [2011/01/05] Introduction, Scanners
Class 2: [2011/01/12] Parsing
Class 3: [2011/01/19] ASTs
Class 4: [2011/01/26] Types
Class 5: [2011/02/02] Intermediate code
Class 6: [2011/02/09] Runtime Support
Class 7: [2011/02/16] Midterm; Target code
Class 8: [2011/02/23] Memory Management
Class 9: [2011/03/02] Optimization
Class 10: [2011/03/09] Optimization
Class 11: [2011/03/16] Final project due

Lecture slides will be available after each lecture. They will not normally be available before the lecture.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites: CSC373 and CSC383.

You should be familiar with the following topics:

Activation records / stack frames.
A little assembly language.
Java.

Textbooks

Required Books
Crafting a Compiler [Amazon, AddAll]
by Charles N. Fischer, Ron K. Cytron, and Richard J. LeBlanc
Addison-Wesley, Copyright: 2009 or 2010

Expectations

We will use several tools. I expect you to learn these without too much guidance from me.

The course requires that you actively engage the material on your own.

Attendance

You are required to attend/watch all of the lectures within 24 hours of class meeting.

You are responsible for all material discussed in class.

In-class students must attend the midterm exam.

The midterm will be held 2011/02/16 in class.

Assessment

Your final grade will be based on:

Homework and projects: 60%
Midterm (2011/02/16): 40%

Assessment for homework assignments will be based on whether they achieve the set task and quality of the code.

You are expected to complete all of the homework assignments by the deadline. Late homework submissions will not be accepted. Homework assignments must be submitted through the online system. Email submissions will not be accepted.