Product Description

While focusing on the essential techniques common to all language paradigms, this book provides readers with the skills required for modern compiler construction. All the major programming types (imperative, object–oriented, functional, logic, and distributed) are covered. Practical emphasis is placed on implementation and optimization techniques, which includes tools for automating compiler design.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52316 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 754 pages

Review
"There′s nothing this programmer likes more in a book than a structured, logical layout, and Modern Compiler Design has it by the bucketful. [...] this excellent book covers not just procedural languages, but object–oriented, functional, logic and parallel/distributed languages too. [...] a well–written and thorough book [...] recommended for the compiler novice." – David Johns in Application Development Advisor, Nov/Dec 2000

Review
"...an excellent introduction to the history and inner workings of the compiler." "Thankfully the book has a very readable style..." "...a well written and thorough book that is recommended for the compiler novice."
–– Application Development Advisor, November 2000

From the Back Cover
A compiler is one of the most vital parts of a computer’s system software, translating programs written in a high–level language into low–level commands that the machine can understand and execute. Most compiler design books focus only on techniques for imperative (or procedural) languages like C or Pascal, whereas Modern Compiler Design also covers compilation techniques for object–oriented, functional, logic and distributed languages. Features of the book include:

• A focus on essential traditional and advanced techniques common to all language paradigms, giving readers the skills required for modern compiler construction.
• Coverage of all the major programming language types – imperative, object–oriented, functional, logic and distributed languages.
• A practical emphasis on implementation and optimization techniques, including tools for automating compiler design.
• A strong intuitive style, illustrated by many practical examples.

All the authors are experienced teachers and researchers in programming languages and their implementation and have acquired a wealth of experience in compiler construction for a variety of languages. This experience has also been reflected in previous texts on Programming Languages, Programming Distributed Systems and Parsing Techniques.

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Customer Reviews

First class, extremely readable and well written
Certainly the best-written book on compilers, I have ever read. Many other books cover the same ground (and more), but none explains it nearly so well. Reading this first and then the Dragon Book afterwards, will take you less time than reading the Dragon Book on it's own.

very well written, explains technical subject succinctly
Very easy to follow with good material on everything I wanted to know. The explanation and discussion are top quality, in many cases I no longer find certain things complex! I found this book to be much more readable/accessible than the dragon book

Good and comprehensive - but not an introduction
One of the better books on compiler design but not for beginners, who should probably start with the excellent "Modern Compiler Implementation in Java" by David Watt and Deryck Brown. This is a good second text, with a nice balance between introductory and advanced material, including one of the better treatments of type inference that I have seen in a textbook. If you are considering this book, you should also look at the alternatives by Appel and by Aho, Sethi and Ullman, which cover similar ground. To my mind this book is the best of the three, but if you are interested in functional languages, you might prefer the version of Appel's book that uses ML.