Re: Writing a C/C++ compiler in C++

david.boyle@ed.tadpole.com (Dave Boyle) wrote
> dezakin@usa.net (Dez Akin) wrote
> > I've been thinking of writing a C++ compiler in C++ over the next
> > several years, and I was wondering what's changed in writing a
> > compiler?
>
> <snip>
>
> Just a word of warning. Walter Bright, who implemented an early C++
> compiler, had this to say in comp.lang.c++.moderated recently:
>
> "I'd venture that it would take 10 years to write a C++ compiler from
> scratch."
>
> He was talking specifically about a fully standard compliant compiler.
>
> This still seems a little excessive to me but I don't have the
> compiler construction experience that Walter has, so...
>
> I'd strongly recommend two books to help in your endeavour:
>
> Engineering a Compiler - Keith Cooper & Linda Torczon
> The C++ Standard - Hardback copy available from The British Standards
> Institute for a reasonable price (about £35).
>
> The first book is a compiler book that is very pragmatic in its
> approach and I think is one of the best compiler books to come out in
> years. I bought it as a result of others in this NG recommending it
> and wasn't disappointed.
>
> Hope this helps.


Quite a bit. It seems the parser itself will be substantially less
work than I orignally thought; Someone at Boost is probably allready
working on the C++ parser, as there already is a fully compliant
preprocessor/lexer.


I've been reading Engineering a Compiler for the last week, and it is
the best compiler book I've looked at; Far better than the dragon
book. So basically I need I need to wrap my head around the context
sensitive analysis and then code generation.

Return to the comp.compilers page.
Search the comp.compilers archives again.