Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!ll-xn!husc6!necntc!ima!johnl From: geoff@utstat.toronto.edu Newsgroups: comp.compilers Subject: a good introductory compiler book Message-ID: <626@ima.ISC.COM> Date: Fri, 24-Jul-87 17:39:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ima.626 Posted: Fri Jul 24 17:39:00 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 26-Jul-87 01:09:22 EDT Sender: johnl@ima.ISC.COM Reply-To: geoff@utstat.toronto.edu Lines: 27 Approved: compilers@ima.UUCP I dislike most compiler books because they don't *explain* how parsing techniques work, they merely prove that parsing techniques do indeed work. I don't find this helpful. I find most of compiling to be fairly straightforward, except for parsing, which had seemed to be black magic, particularly since it is usually explained amid a flurry of Greek letters. Aho, Hopcroft & Ullman are fairly bad at this, though the new Dragon Book looks a little better at quick glance (I understand that the proliferation of Greek is Ullman's influence; I have been told that Aho and Hopcroft can explain in English). Then I found a wonderful book: Understanding and Writing Compilers by Richard Bornat, Macmillan Computer Science Series, ISBN 0 333 21732 2. It's clearly not a book for compiler professionals, but it fills a gap in the introductory compiler book market. I have yet to see another book that *explains* how parsing works. (The book was printed on a Diablo printer and so cannot contain any Greek.) The major defect of the book is that its figures contain many errors, but I have an on-line errata list (which I have been meaning to send the author) which I will supply on request. Geoff Collyer utzoo!utstat!geoff, utstat.toronto.{edu,cdn}!geoff -- Send compilers articles to ima!compilers or, in a pinch, to Levine@YALE.ARPA Plausible paths are { ihnp4 | decvax | cbosgd | harvard | yale | cca}!ima Please send responses to the originator of the message -- I cannot forward mail accidentally sent back to compilers. Meta-mail to ima!compilers-request