Engineering a Compiler by Keith Cooper

This is really a super compiler text. It is also one of the most recent compiler books you can buy.
First of all this is a theoretical book. If you read the title 'Engineering a compiler' as 'Coding/Building a compiler' you would be disappointed! So, if you're looking for a learing-by-coding book, this is not for you (but I have some recommendations at the end of this review in the latest paragraph). The difference with most of the other theoretical books is that this book is not a dry text. It has also a nice layout. It gives plenty of examples, and all topics are well connected to each other. It's a pleasure to read for not native English people, so native English people can read it pretty fast.

This book read like a novel.. It does contain enough diagrams, tables, etc. but not too much (crowded), and everything is well explained.

You can read this book as a compiler introduction book. But I can only recommend this to B.Sc/M.Sc Computer Science students (like me). You don't need to have a M.Sc in Mathematics to understand this text, (all the math, eg. liveness graphs are well explained), but you will understand everything better if you have some background in algorithms (design), pseudocode, etc. like you gained during your B.Sc program. People without formal computer science education I would recommend to read a practical book first (see at the end of this review), because you may find else this text too theoretical.

This book focus on code optimizations. According to the authors (and me) compiler front ends (scanning/parsing/etc) are commodities today, and the backend (codegeneration) is where the difference is made nowadays. So if you're looking for a introduction text into compiler optimization this book is for you!

If you're looking for a more practical book I advice you to read 'Programming Language Processors in Java' from Watt & Brown. In that book you learn to build a nice stack virtual machine in Java with 'advanced features' like records (structs), procedures/functions, arrays and so on. That book is a good companion for 'Engineering a Compiler' to give you some practical insight. If you're looking for a Language Design book I advice you to look at 'Programming Language Pragmatics'. Both books are worth the money...




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