Compilers: Principles and Practice by Pearson

Introduction 13

1.6 A More Detailed Look at Phases of a Compiler

We have already seen that a compiler has the following phases:

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Pre-processing

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Scanner – Lexical Analysis

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Parser – Syntax Analysis

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Mapper – Semantic Analysis

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Code Generation

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Assembler

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Optimization (spread over several phases)

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Error Checking (spread over several phases)

A compiler generates intermediate files between these phases, to communicate output of one phase

as input to the next (see Fig. 1.14).

We now discuss each phase of a compiler in some details.

1.6.1 Lexical Analyzer – Scanner

Does lexical analysis, by doing the following:

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Analyze individual character ...