Find a Compiler

The kinds of questions you will be asked to consider during the semester might be

• What is the high-level intermediate representation used by the compiler?
• How robust is the compiler in the face of errors? How good are the diagnostics?
• How faithful is the compiler to the source language definition?
• How good is the code quality with respect to optimization? Register usage?
• Is there a systematic approach to type checking; if so, what is it?
• What would be needed to add some new language feature (e.g. a control construct)?

Thus, you should look for a compiler with the following attributes:

• The source code is available.
• Documentation is available, either separately or embedded in the code.
• Someone might be available to answer questions (either because the compiler is widely used, e.g. gcc, or because someone is listed as a contact person).
• The compiler generates code, or at least low-level pseudo-code (i.e. not an interpreter or just a front end).
• You can execute the compiler (just reading code is easy to do remotely, but execution might require either a guest account, downloading binaries, or a local installation).
• It's possible for you to find out enough about the source language to be able to write some small programs.

The first place to look is in the software warehouse, since you might prefer to have something local. Check /usr/sww, /usr/sww/lang, /usr/sww/share/lang as a start, although some of that is not very current. Note that there may be some compilers available on the Berkeley campus under a site license that are not otherwise available on the WWW.

Or look at http://remarque.berkeley.edu/muir/free-compilers

Use the class newsgroup to share what you learn with others, so that everyone doesn't follow the same blind alley or make the same choice.