Compiler Design: Theory, Tools, and Examples

Recently the phrase user interface has received much attention in the computer industry. A user interface is the mechanism through which the user of a device communicates with the device. Since digital computers are programmed using a complex system of binary codes and memory addresses, we have developed sophisticated user interfaces, called programming languages, which enable us to specify computations in ways that seem more natural. This book will describe the implementation of this kind of interface, the rationale being that even if you never need to design or implement a programming language, the lessons learned here will still be valuable to you. You will be a better programmer as a result of understanding how programming languages are implemented, and you will have a greater appreciation for programming languages. In addition, the techniques which are presented here can be used in the construction of other user interfaces, such as the query language for a database management system.