Winter 2026, CSCI 512, Test 1 Review

Quick review: Chapters 1 and 2 in your text.

Topic review:

• Chapter 1 -- Introduction
• Early computer programming methods
• Assembly language vs machine code
• History of programming languages
• Evolution of languages
• Factors pushing language design
• Kinds of languages: Declarative, Imperative, Functional
• Compilation vs interpretation
• Compilation basics
• Compilation targets
• Compiler bootstrapping
• Phases of a compiler
• Jobs of each phase of a compiler
• Results of a parser
• Abstract Syntax Tree
• Checks of the code: compile time, link time, run time
• Code generation output
• Chapter 2 -- Programming Language Syntax
• Syntax vs semantics
• Scanners: REs, kinds of scanners (hand, generated)
• RE's for tokens
• RE->NFA->DFA
• Simple scanner, no generator tool
• Other scanner issues
• Parsing: CFG as basis
• LL vs LR
• Recursive descent parser, no generator tool
• Parse tree
• Left most and right most derivations
• Top town vs Bottom up parsers
• LL and LR generic algorithms
• Typical grammars for LL(k)
• Typical grammars for LR(k)
• Nullable non-terminals
• First sets & first function
• Follow sets
• LL table generation (Predict)
• Shift reduce parsers, code outline
• LR(0) parser generation
• Configuration set
• Closure and goto.
• Building LR(0) configuration sets, parse tables
• Following a LR(0) parse
• SLR(1), LALR(1), LR(1) basic concepts
• Scanner and parser generator tools

• A job not typically done by a scanner is
1. recognizing tokens.
2. removing comments.
3. defining identifiers.
4. counting lines.
• Given a small grammar, create LR(0) Action and Goto tables?
• How does an abstract syntax tree differ from a parse tree?