Chapter- Six

Intermediate Code Generation

 Topics to be Covered

 Introduction

 What is Intermediate code generation?

 Different Intermediate forms/Representation

 Different representation of Three address code

 Introduction
 A source code can directly be translated into its target machine code,

 then why at all we need to translate the source code into an intermediate code which is then translated to
its target code?

 Let us see the reasons why we need an intermediate code.

 Reasons why we need an Intermediate code
 Intermediate code eliminates the need of a new full compiler for every unique machine
by keeping the analysis portion same for all the compilers.
 The second part of compiler, synthesis, is changed according to the target machine.

 It becomes easier to apply the source code modifications to improve code performance
by applying code optimization techniques on the intermediate code.
 What is Intermediate Code generation?
 It is used to translate the source code into the machine code

 It lies between high-level language and low level language(machine language)

 In the analysis-synthesis model of a compiler the front end translates a source

program into an intermediate representation from which backend generates target
code.

i.e. Intermediate code is the interface between front end and back end in a compiler
 What is Intermediate Code generation? …

 ICG receives input from its predecessors phase and semantic analyser phase.

 It takes input in the form of an annotated syntax tree.

 ICG- can be represented in two ways:

i. High-level IC-it can represented as source code

ii. Low level IC- it is close to the target machine

• it is used to machine dependent optimisation

 In this chapter we study intermediate representations, static type checking and

intermediate code generation
 Different form of Intermediate code/Representation

i. Abstract Syntax tree and DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph )

ii. Polish Notation( Infix, prefix and postfix)

iii. Three Address code

 i. Abstract Syntax Tree(AST) and DAG

 AST are more compact than a parse tree and can be easily used by compiler

 Nodes in a syntax tree represent constructs in the source program.

 the children of a node represent the meaningful components of a construct.

 A Directed Acyclic Graph (called a DAG) for an expression identifies the common

subexpressions (subexpressions that occur more than once) of the expression.

 Directed Acyclic Graphs for Expressions
 It is sometimes beneficial to crate a DAG instead of parse tree for Expressions.

 This way we can easily show the common sub-expressions and then use that
knowledge during code generation.
 a DAG has leaves corresponding to atomic operands and interior codes
corresponding to operators.
 a node N in a DAG has more than one parent if N represents a common sub-
expression.
 Example #1: DAG
 Shows the DAG for the expression.
 ii. Polish Notation( Infix, prefix and postfix)
• Three types of polish notation:

• Infix-notation: operation between the operands e.g. a+b

• Prefix-notation: Operator before operands e.g. +ab

• Postfix-notation:

– It is also called suffix notation or reverse polish notation

– This is most natural way of representation in expression evaluation in compiler.

– In postfix notation the operands occurs first and then operators are arranged. E.g
ab+
 Example #1: Postfix-Notation
• Consider the following string: a+b*c+d*e^f

• The postfix notation of the string is:

abc*+def^*+

Q. How to write post fix notation for any length of expression?

– to obtain the postfix notation evaluate the expression according to precedence of

operators
Example #1: Postfix-Notation- Solution
 iii. Three address code
 Common intermediate representation of a program.

 Three address code is a sequence of statement of the general form a= b op c

 Where a,b,c are operands that can be names or constants and op stands for any
operator. Example #1: a=b+c*d
 Three address code for above expressions is:
t1=c*d
t2=b+t1
a=t2 where t1 and t2 are the temporary names generated by compiler
Note: In three-address code, there is at most one operator on the right side of an
instruction.( two for operands and one for result)
 Three Address Code: Example #2

 Three-address code is a linearized representation of a syntax tree or a DAG in which

explicit names correspond to the interior nodes of the graph.
 For e.g. a+a*(b-c)+(b-c)*d
 Forms of three address instructions

1. Assignment instructions of the form:

x = y op z

2. Assignments of the form:

x = op y, where op is a unary operation..

3. Copy instructions of the form:

x = y, where x is assigned the value of y.

 Different Representation of three address codes

 There are three types of representation used for three address code:

i. Quadruples

ii. Triples

iii. Indirect triples

 i. Quadruples
 A quadruple (or just "quad') has four fields, which we call op, arg1, arg2,and
result.
 The op field contains an internal code for the operator.

x=y+z placing + in op, y in arg1, z in arg2, and x

in result.

Note: Instructions with unary operators like x = minus y or x = y do not use arg2.

for a copy statement like x = y, op is =

 Example: Quadruples
 Three-address code for the assignment a = b * - c + b * - c
 ii. Triples

 A triple has only three fields, which we call op, arg1, and arg2

 we refer to the result of an operation x op y by its position, rather than by an

explicit temporary name.

 i.e. Temporaries are not used and instead references to instructions are made.
 Example: Triples
 The syntax tree and triples in Fig.: correspond to the three-address code and
quadruples in Fig.:

 A benefit of quadruples over triples can be seen in an optimizing compiler, where

instructions are often moved around.
 Indirect triples
 Indirect triples consist of a listing of pointers to triples, rather than a listing of triples
themselves.
 With indirect triples, an optimizing compiler can move an instruction by reordering
the instruction list, without affecting the triples themselves.
 Example #2: Assignment operators x=-a*b+-a+b

Figure : Indirect triples representation of three-address code

Readings Assignment

 Chapter 6 of the book