Semantic analysis and target language synthesis in a translator.
Waldean A. Schulz · CU Scholar (University of Colorado Boulder) · 1976
This thesis develops theoretical tools for describing translators (compilers) for digital computers. Algorithms are presented for deriving several kinds of procedural semantic analysers from attribute(d) grammars, a declarative formalism for specifying the context-free syntax and the semantics of a language. In order to specify a translation between two languages, a template mechanism for synthesizing target language text is combined with attributed grammars. The resultant formalism may be analyzed to produce several kinds of procedural translators. The "architecture" of these translators is characterized by abstract automata. One class of these translators has properties ideal for modeling traditional compilers based on a fixed number of bi-directional passes over the source text. The translation formalism can be augmented by several features which enhance its use in practical translator specification. It also suggests precise definitions for numerous concepts in compiler lore.