Ronald Mak

Department of Computer Science
Department of Applied Data Science
Engineering Extended Studies
Fall Semester 2026

Office hours:	Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:00 - 3:30
Office location:	Duncan Hall DH 209
E-mail:	ron.mak@sjsu.edu

Click for: Open student internships at the NASA Ames Research Center Check regularly. Positions open sporadically.

CS/SE 153 Concepts of Compiler Design

Section 1: TuTh 1:30 - 2:45 PM room MH 422

Syllabus
Prerequisites
Required books

Assignments

#	Date	Due	Assignment
	Aug 20	Aug 24	Submit proof of prerequisites to Canvas: Assignments/Miscellaneous/Course prerequisites
	Aug 20	Aug 26	Submit project team info (one submission per team) to Canvas: Assignments/Miscellaneous/Project team info
1	Aug 27	Sept 3	Simple Scanner and Parser Simple: Simple.zip Test input files: TestWhile1.txt TestWhile2.txt TestIf1.txt TestIf2.txt TestIf13txt TestIf4.txt TestFor1.txt TestFor2.txt TestFor3.txt TestCase1.txt TestCase2.txt Sample solution: Asgn1Solution.zip
2	Sep 3	Sep 10	Simple Interpreter Test input files: TestWhile.txt TestIf.txt TestFor.txt TestCase.txt Expected output: TestWhile.out.txt TestIf.out.txt TestFor.out.txt TestCase.out.txt Sample solution: Asgn2Solution.zip
3	Sep 10	Sep 17	Simple Interpreter using ANTLR 4 Test input files: TestWhile.txt TestIf.txt TestFor.txt TestCase.txt Expected output: TestWhile.out.txt TestIf.out.txt TestFor.out.txt TestCase.out.txt

Lectures

Week	Date	Content
1	Aug 22	Slides: Goals; course learning outcomes; project teams; grading; postmortem assessment report; types of programming languages; it's all about translation; language classes during translation; Pascal; example translations: conversion, execution, debugging, compilation Example Pascal program: SquareRootTable.pas Example language conversion (Pascal to Java): SquareRootTable.java Example object code (Jasmin): SquareRootTable.j
2	Aug 25	Slides: A software architecture; parser; tokens; scanner; parse tree; symbol table; backend components; translator control flow; translator data flow; Pascal tokens; syntax diagrams; how to scan for tokens; basic scanning algorithm; test the scanner; current character vs. next character; consume characters and tokens Simple scanner, parser, and interpreter: Simple.zip
2	Aug 27	Slides: Statement and expression syntax diagrams; operator precedence; Pascal control statements; parse tree conceptual design; parse tree operations; building a parse tree; classes: Scanner, Token, Node, SymtabEntry, Symtab; symbol table hack #1; syntax error handling; Parser methods; statements: WHILE, IF, FOR, CASE; dangling ELSE
3	Sept 1	Slides: Symbol table: concept, design, operation, hacks; parse program, assignment statement, variable; listing; cross-reference table; Simple interpreter; visiting tree nodes; runtime uses of parse tree and symbol table; visit tree nodes: program, compound statement, assignment statement, REPEAT statement, IF statement, expressions
3	Sept 3	Slides: Top-down recursive descent parsing; Chomsky language hierarchy; DFA scanner; syntax and semantics; grammars and languages; derivations and productions; ANTLR 4; translation workflow; multiple passes Example code: SimpleDFAScanner.zip
4	Sept 8	Slides: ANTLR 4 grammar file; metasymbols; token definitions; production rules; generated parser; testing tool; context classes; visit methods; base visit method implementations; create the symbol table; overriding base methods; syntax and semantic error handlers; order in the grammar file Example ANTLR 4 grammar file: SimpleA1.g4 Example ANTLR 4 code: SimpleA1.zip
4	Sept 10	Slides: ANTLR 4 generated Context classes and visit methods; custom tree node fields; new semantic visit method overrides; pass 3 tree walk; executor visit method overrides; labeled rule alternatives Example ANTLR 4 code: SimpleA2.g4 SimpleA2.zip SimpleA3.g4 SimpleA3.zip

First draft: Build a Programming Language (From Scratch)

Chapter	Title	Files
1	Building a programming language
2	Specifying a programming language's grammar
3	A software architecture for translators
4	Installing and testing ANTLR 4	Simple.g4 example.simp example2.simp

Goals of the course

This course will concentrate on practical aspects of compiler construction, programming language design, and engineering a large, complex software application.

Language conversion. Convert a program written in one high-level language to an equivalent program written in another high-level language.
Interpreter with an interactive symbolic debugger. Execute a program written in a procedural language and be able to set breakpoints, single-step, examine and set variable values, etc.
Compiler construction and language design. Design and build a working compiler for a programming language that you invented. Write sample programs in your language and then compile them into executable machine code that you can run.
Software engineering. Employ the best practices of object-oriented design and team-based software engineering. A compiler is a large, complex program! Managing the development of such a program requires learning critical job skills that are highly desired by employers.

This is a challenging course that will demand much of your time and effort throughout the semester.

Course Learning Outcomes (CLO)

CLO 2: Develop a scanner and a parser for a programming language.
CLO 3: Use the ANTLR 4 compiler-compiler tools.
CLO 4: Perform syntactic and semantic analyses of source programs.
CLO 3: Generate symbol tables and intermediate code for source programs.
CLO 4: Develop an interpreter with an interactive symbolic debugger that executes a source program in a suitable runtime environment.
CLO 5: Generate parse trees and symbol tables for source programs.
CLO 6: Develop a language converter that converts a program from one language to another..
CLO 7: Develop an interpreter with an interactive symbolic debugger that executes a source program in a suitable runtime environment.
CLO 8: Develop a compiler that translates a source program into executable machine code.
CLO 9: Engineer a large, complex software application.

Prerequisites

Department policy is to enforce
all course prerequisites strictly

CS 47 Introduction to Computer Systems or CMPE 102 Assembly Language Programming	grade C- or better
CS 146 Data Structures and Algorithms	grade C- or better
CS 154 Formal Languages and Computability	grade C- or better

Required book

The Definitive ANTLR 4 Reference, 2nd edition
Terence Parr
Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2012
ISBN: 978-1934356999
http://www.antlr.org/

Online Pascal tutorials

We will use Pascal as the example source language.

Pascal Tutorial looks very good. It has an online Pascal compiler.

Learn Pascal also looks good, although it doesn't appear to cover set types.

Online Pascal development sites

You can edit, compile, and run Pascal programs online.

http://rextester.com/l/pascal_online_compiler

https://www.tutorialspoint.com/compile_pascal_online.php

https://www.jdoodle.com/execute-pascal-online

Software to Install

You should install and use an interactive development environment (IDE) such as Eclipse or IntelliJ. To develop translators for your language, you will need to download and install the ANTLR 4 package and its Eclipse or IntelliJ plugin, and then modify them to generate the necessary compiler components in Java. Instructions for ANTLR 4 will be provided when the time comes.

Project teams

You will form small project teams. Team membership is mandatory for this class. The teams will last throughout the semester. Once the teams are formed, you will not be allowed to move from one team to another, so form your teams wisely!

Course Requirements and Assignments

You must have good Java programming skills and be familiar with development tools such as Eclipse or IntelliJ.

Team-based lab assignments will provide practice with compiler design techniques and give you experience adding new features to a large legacy code base. Each student on a team will receive the same score for each team assignment.

Each team will submit its assignments into Canvas, where the rubric for scoring each will be displayed. Late assignments will lose 20 points and an additional 20 points for each 24 hours after the due date.

This is a challenging course that will demand much of your time and effort throughout the semester.

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