Experimenting an implementation-focused approach to undergraduate compiler course

Abstract

Compiler construction is one of the most challenging courses to teach in undergraduate computer science curriculum. In a traditional compiler course, many theoretical topics are covered and a compiler project is assigned. Our previous experience shows that this approach not only is challenging but also can be ineffective sometimes. To cover the extensive amount of material within a semester is a struggle. To expect students to produce a working compiler is also impractical since most undergraduates have little experience in developing large software. Our preliminary experiment using an implementation-focused approach produces many positive outcomes. In this approach, the lectures focused on the case study of the design and implementation of a Pascal compiler using a language independent framework. For the project, students successfully used the given language independent framework to design and develop a working compiler for a modified subset C language.