Re: Compiler Construction in Ada

jipping@cs.hope.edu (Mike Jipping) writes:
>I'm looking at teaching [compiler] Construction in the Spring semester. ...
>In the past, we have ... used Pascal to write projects.


>Now the Pascal compiler is gone. And I'm looking for the appropriate
>language in which to write the compiler for the project.


Ada would be a perfectly fine language to write a compiler in, but I would
say that the prime requirement is that the students already have whatever
language you choose when they come into the course. If you are going to
cover language processing and code generation to a real machine in a
single semester, they are going to be busy without having to learn a new
language as well. I remember the old days when the student's arrived in
Data Structures knowing only Fortran, and we had to teach them Pascal in
the Data Structures course. They finished the course knowing some Pascal
and little data structures.


If it is a choice between C and Ada and they have only got Pascal, go with
Ada - it's much more Pascal-like and a more pleasant language to program
in. As an Ada text, I would recommend "Programming in Ada", by JGP
Barnes, Addison Wesley.


Regards, Dave Moore
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