Re: Java compiler courses

wooks wrote:
> Why do they exist.
>
> Why would anybody want to teach a compiler course in Java when it
> seems that there are more and better resources (books, tools)
> supporting a compilers course based on C (aside from the obvious -
> students are taught Java and not C).
>
> Why would anybody want to write a compiler in Java (unless it's the
> only language they know).
>
Most of the students on are never going to write a compiler. They are
studying the subject for two purposes:


First because they want to know how their code is transformed into
machine code such that they can better predict how some piece of code
will work. Who cares what language the compiler is written in in that case?


Secondly because lots of computer programs read text files. You can use
the theory for front ends when writing code to read such text files.
Such readers will typically be written in same the language as the rest
of the project. Thus there is no particular reason to believe that the
students later in will use their knowledge in projects using C.


Finally, a curse on on compiler design should not be a curse on
debugging code or data structures. There is no reason why students
should fight memory leaks in C code or reimplement stacks, maps, etc.,
when they can use library functions in other languages. The students
have only so much time for their student projects, and there is a lot of
compiler theory they will not have time for trying in practice.


Karsten Nyblad
148f3wg02 at sneakemail dot com

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