Cambridge University Press

0521607655 - Modern Compiler Implementation in C

Andrew W. Appel
Frontmatter
More information

Modern Compiler Implementation in C

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
0521607655 - Modern Compiler Implementation in C
Andrew W. Appel
Frontmatter
More information

Modern Compiler
Implementation
in C

ANDREW W. APPEL
Princeton University

with MAIA GINSBURG

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
0521607655 - Modern Compiler Implementation in C
Andrew W. Appel
Frontmatter
More information

PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK
40 West 20th Street, New York NY 10011–4211, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
Ruiz de Alarcón 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain
Dock House, The Waterfront, Cape Town 8001, South Africa

http://www.cambridge.org

© Andrew W. Appel and Maia Ginsburg 1998

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 1998

Revised and expanded edition of Modern Compiler Implementation in C: Basic Techniques
Reprinted with corrections, 1999
First paperback edition 2004

Typeset in Times, Courier, and Optima

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication data

Appel, Andrew W., 1960–

Modern compiler implementation in C / Andrew W. Appel with Maia Ginsburg. – Rev.
and expanded ed.
x, 544 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 528–536) and index.
ISBN 0 521 58390 X (hardback)
1. C (Computer program language) 2. Compilers (Computer programs)
I. Ginsburg, Maia. II. Title.
QA76.73.C15A63 1998
005.4´53—dc21 97-031089
CIP

ISBN 0 521 58390 X hardback

ISBN 0 521 60765 5 paperback

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
0521607655 - Modern Compiler Implementation in C
Andrew W. Appel
Frontmatter
More information

Contents

Preface ix

Part I Fundamentals of Compilation

1 Introduction 3
1.1 Modules and interfaces 4
1.2 Tools and software 5
1.3 Data structures for tree languages 7

2 Lexical Analysis 16
2.1 Lexical tokens 17
2.2 Regular expressions 18
2.3 Finite automata 21
2.4 Nondeterministic finite automata 24
2.5 Lex: a lexical analyzer generator 30

3 Parsing 39
3.1 Context-free grammars 41
3.2 Predictive parsing 46
3.3 LR parsing 56
3.4 Using parser generators 69
3.5 Error recovery 76

4 Abstract Syntax 88
4.1 Semantic actions 88
4.2 Abstract parse trees 92

5 Semantic Analysis 103

5.1 Symbol tables 103
5.2 Bindings for the Tiger compiler 112

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
0521607655 - Modern Compiler Implementation in C
Andrew W. Appel
Frontmatter
More information

CONTENTS

5.3 Type-checking expressions 115

5.4 Type-checking declarations 118

6 Activation Records 125

6.1 Stack frames 127
6.2 Frames in the Tiger compiler 135

7 Translation to Intermediate Code 150

7.1 Intermediate representation trees 151
7.2 Translation into trees 154
7.3 Declarations 170

8 Basic Blocks and Traces 176

8.1 Canonical trees 177
8.2 Taming conditional branches 185

9 Instruction Selection 191

9.1 Algorithms for instruction selection 194
9.2 CISC machines 202
9.3 Instruction selection for the Tiger compiler 205

10 Liveness Analysis 218

10.1 Solution of dataflow equations 220
10.2 Liveness in the Tiger compiler 229

11 Register Allocation 235

11.1 Coloring by simplification 236
11.2 Coalescing 239
11.3 Precolored nodes 243
11.4 Graph coloring implementation 248
11.5 Register allocation for trees 257

12 Putting It All Together 265

Part II Advanced Topics

13 Garbage Collection 273

13.1 Mark-and-sweep collection 273
13.2 Reference counts 278

vi

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
0521607655 - Modern Compiler Implementation in C
Andrew W. Appel
Frontmatter
More information

CONTENTS

13.3 Copying collection 280

13.4 Generational collection 285
13.5 Incremental collection 287
13.6 Baker’s algorithm 290
13.7 Interface to the compiler 291

14 Object-Oriented Languages 299

14.1 Classes 299
14.2 Single inheritance of data fields 302
14.3 Multiple inheritance 304
14.4 Testing class membership 306
14.5 Private fields and methods 310
14.6 Classless languages 310
14.7 Optimizing object-oriented programs 311

15 Functional Programming Languages 315

15.1 A simple functional language 316
15.2 Closures 318
15.3 Immutable variables 319
15.4 Inline expansion 326
15.5 Closure conversion 332
15.6 Efficient tail recursion 335
15.7 Lazy evaluation 337

16 Polymorphic Types 350

16.1 Parametric polymorphism 351
16.2 Type inference 359
16.3 Representation of polymorphic variables 369
16.4 Resolution of static overloading 378

17 Dataflow Analysis 383

17.1 Intermediate representation for flow analysis 384
17.2 Various dataflow analyses 387
17.3 Transformations using dataflow analysis 392
17.4 Speeding up dataflow analysis 393
17.5 Alias analysis 402

18 Loop Optimizations 410

18.1 Dominators 413

vii

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
0521607655 - Modern Compiler Implementation in C
Andrew W. Appel
Frontmatter
More information

CONTENTS

18.2 Loop-invariant computations 418

18.3 Induction variables 419
18.4 Array-bounds checks 425
18.5 Loop unrolling 429

19 Static Single-Assignment Form 433

19.1 Converting to SSA form 436
19.2 Efficient computation of the dominator tree 444
19.3 Optimization algorithms using SSA 451
19.4 Arrays, pointers, and memory 457
19.5 The control-dependence graph 459
19.6 Converting back from SSA form 462
19.7 A functional intermediate form 464

20 Pipelining and Scheduling 474

20.1 Loop scheduling without resource bounds 478
20.2 Resource-bounded loop pipelining 482
20.3 Branch prediction 490

21 The Memory Hierarchy 498

21.1 Cache organization 499
21.2 Cache-block alignment 502
21.3 Prefetching 504
21.4 Loop interchange 510
21.5 Blocking 511
21.6 Garbage collection and the memory hierarchy 514

Appendix: Tiger Language Reference Manual 518

A.1 Lexical issues 518
A.2 Declarations 518
A.3 Variables and expressions 521
A.4 Standard library 525
A.5 Sample Tiger programs 526

Bibliography 528

Index 537

viii

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
0521607655 - Modern Compiler Implementation in C
Andrew W. Appel
Frontmatter
More information

Preface

Over the past decade, there have been several shifts in the way compilers are
built. New kinds of programming languages are being used: object-oriented
languages with dynamic methods, functional languages with nested scope
and first-class function closures; and many of these languages require garbage
collection. New machines have large register sets and a high penalty for mem-
ory access, and can often run much faster with compiler assistance in schedul-
ing instructions and managing instructions and data for cache locality.
This book is intended as a textbook for a one- or two-semester course
in compilers. Students will see the theory behind different components of a
compiler, the programming techniques used to put the theory into practice,
and the interfaces used to modularize the compiler. To make the interfaces
and programming examples clear and concrete, I have written them in the C
programming language. Other editions of this book are available that use the
Java and ML languages.

Implementation project. The “student project compiler” that I have outlined

is reasonably simple, but is organized to demonstrate some important tech-
niques that are now in common use: abstract syntax trees to avoid tangling
syntax and semantics, separation of instruction selection from register alloca-
tion, copy propagation to give flexibility to earlier phases of the compiler, and
containment of target-machine dependencies. Unlike many “student compil-
ers” found in textbooks, this one has a simple but sophisticated back end,
allowing good register allocation to be done after instruction selection.
Each chapter in Part I has a programming exercise corresponding to one
module of a compiler. Software useful for the exercises can be found at

http://www.cs.princeton.edu/˜appel/modern/c

ix

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org

Cambridge University Press
0521607655 - Modern Compiler Implementation in C
Andrew W. Appel
Frontmatter
More information

PREFACE

Exercises. Each chapter has pencil-and-paper exercises; those marked with

a star are more challenging, two-star problems are difficult but solvable, and
the occasional three-star exercises are not known to have a solution.

Course sequence. The figure shows how the chapters depend on each other.
Lexical Abstract Semantic
2. 3. Parsing 4. 5.

Quarter
Analysis Syntax Analysis

Activation Translation to Basic Blocks

Semester
6. 7. 8.
Records Intermediate Code and Traces

Instruction Putting it
1. Introduction 9. 12.
Selection All Together

Quarter
Liveness Register
10. 11.
Analysis Allocation
Static Single-
Dataflow Loop
17. 18. 19. Assignment
Analysis Optimizations
Form

Semester
Functional Polymorphic Pipelining,
15. 16. 20.
Languages Types Scheduling

Garbage Object-Oriented Memory

13. 14. 21.
Collection Languages Hierarchies

• A one-semester course could cover all of Part I (Chapters 1–12), with students
implementing the project compiler (perhaps working in groups); in addition,
lectures could cover selected topics from Part II.
• An advanced or graduate course could cover Part II, as well as additional
topics from the current literature. Many of the Part II chapters can stand inde-
pendently from Part I, so that an advanced course could be taught to students
who have used a different book for their first course.
• In a two-quarter sequence, the first quarter could cover Chapters 1–8, and the
second quarter could cover Chapters 9–12 and some chapters from Part II.

Acknowledgments. Many people have provided constructive criticism or

helped me in other ways on this book. I would like to thank Leonor Abraido-
Fandino, Scott Ananian, Stephen Bailey, Max Hailperin, David Hanson, Jef-
frey Hsu, David MacQueen, Torben Mogensen, Doug Morgan, Robert Netzer,
Elma Lee Noah, Mikael Petterson, Todd Proebsting, Anne Rogers, Barbara
Ryder, Amr Sabry, Mooly Sagiv, Zhong Shao, Mary Lou Soffa, Andrew Tol-
mach, Kwangkeun Yi, and Kenneth Zadeck.

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org