Course Objectives
After completing the course, students will have
- Been exposed to the fundamentals of formal languages and
compilers theory—as outlined in the topics listed
above—and will have applied many of these fundamental ideas to
build their own working compiler
- Learned the basics of, and gained some facility with,
the functional programming language OCaml
- Had some fun along the way!
Resources
Textbooks and Software
The primary text is
While a hard copy of this book is certainly worthwhile, before you buy I urge
you to check out the library's electronic version. If you don't mind reading
on your laptop screen, the electronic copy may save you some money!
Periodically I may assign additional supplementary (optional
but recommended) readings from resources such as
all of which are freely available online to registered OU students.
Prerequisites
CS 3200 and 3610, but also:
Some mathematical maturity (at the level of "I've seen and done a few
proofs before"), facility with a couple different programming
languages (at the 3200 level of exposure), and a desire to learn.
Course Structure
The course consists of twice-weekly lectures (Tuesday and Thursdays),
attendance at which is required. To help get you up to speed with
OCaml and the course programming assignments, we'll also hold biweekly
lab hours (time TBD). Although
attendance at the lab hours is optional, I highly recommend that you
attend — at least for the first few weeks of the course. The
programming assignments for this course are extensive and time
consuming, so be prepared!
In addition to biweekly homework assignments, there will be a
midterm exam (Week 7, approximately 15% of your grade) and a
final (Week 15, approximately 25%). The biweekly homeworks
(programming assignments) are worth approximately 40%. We'll have weekly
quizzes every Tuesday (with probability 1/3), along with
bi-weekly offline Blackboard quizzes (total 10%). Participation and
attendance at lecture are worth 5%.
Blackboard will be used only to report grades and to post lecture
notes. Up-to-date information on all other aspects of the course
(assignment due dates, etc.) will be posted either on this website
or on the Piazza page or both.
Assignments Key:
Programming Assignment
Quiz Available On Blackboard
UPDATE 1/16: In the schedule below, quizzes and assignments
are now listed by due date rather than by release date.
Schedule (Tentative)
Intro. to Compilers, OCaml
W1: 1/9-13
OCaml QuickStart Lab: Monday 1/16, 4-5pm, Stocker 307
W2: 1/16-20
Lexing and Parsing
W3: 1/23-27
W4: 1/30-2/3
DFAs and NFAs, lexer generators
Reading: Appel 2.3-2.5
Q2 Due 1/31 at 1:30pm
W5: 2/6-10
W6: 2/13-17
Recursive descent parsing, predictive parsing, parser generators
Reading: Appel Sections 3.2-3.5
Q3 Due 2/14 at 1:30pm
Types and Type-Checking
W7: 2/20-24
Abstract syntax trees, type systems
Reading: Appel 4, TAPL 8 (OU Library eBook)
Reading:
Q4 Due 2/21 at 1:30pm
W8: 2/27-3/3
Midterm Exam: Thursday 3/2
W9: 3/6-3/10 Spring Break, No Class
Intermediate Representations
W10: 3/13-17
Control-flow graphs, dominators
Reading: Appel 7.1, Appel 18.1
W11: 3/20-24
Use-def, dataflow/liveness analysis,
Static Single Assignment (SSA) form,
interference graphs
Reading: Appel 10.1, Appel 19 (up to but not including 19.1)
A4 Due 3/21 at 11:59pm: A4: Type-checking.
W12: 3/27-31
Dataflow analysis contd., translation to SSA form
Reading:
Q5 Due 3/28 at 11:59pm
Runtimes and Garbage Collection
W13: 4/3-7
Stack layout and activation records;
Intro. to runtimes, garbage collection;
mark-and-sweep collection, copying collection, reference counting,
generational collection
Reading: Appel 13, through 13.4;
Appel 6.1
A5 Due 4/6: A5: SSA.
W14: 4/10-4/14
Intro. to LLVM assembly and the LLVM compiler toolkit;
intro. to register allocation
Reading: Appel 11 through 11.3;
AOSA: LLVM
Q6 Due 4/14 at 11:59pm
Register Allocation
W15: 4/17-21
Register allocation contd., final exam review
EC A6 Due 4/18: A6: LLVM.
April 24-28: Final Exams
Homework and Collaboration Policies
Homework will usually be due Tuesdays, by the start of class (1:30 p.m.).
Late homework assignments will be penalized according to the following
formula:
- Up to 24 hours late: no deduction, for a max 2 late homeworks per
student across the entire semester
- Homeworks later than 24 hours, or from students who have already
turned in 2 late homeworks, will receive 0 points.
You may discuss the homework with other students in
the class, but only after you've attempted the problems on your own
first. If you do discuss the homework problems with others, write the
names of the students you spoke with, along with a brief summary of
what you discussed, in a README comment at the top of each
submission. Example:
(*
README Gordon Stewart, Assn #1
I worked with X and Y. We swapped tips regarding the use of pattern-matching
in OCaml. *)
However, under no circumstances are you permitted
to share or directly copy code or other written homework material,
except with course instructors. The code and proofs you turn in must
be your own. Remember: homework is there to give *you* practice in
the new ideas and techniques covered by the course; it does you no
good if you don't engage!
In general, students in EECS courses such as this one should
adhere to the Russ College of Engineering and Technology Honor
Code, and to the OU
Student Code of Conduct.
Students with Disabilities
If you suspect you may need an accommodation based on the impact of a
disability, please contact me privately to discuss your specific
needs. If you're not yet registered as a student with a disability,
contact the
Office of Student
Accessibility Services first.