Good design principles in a compiler university course

Abstract

This paper presents what aims to be an example of good design principles applied to compiler construction. To be more specific, it presents an interpreter of a very simple object oriented language, called SmallScript, that has been designed to be taught in a Compiler University course. Our aim is not to develop a new, revolutionary language, neither to show a spectacular advance in some research field of compiler construction. Instead, as university teachers, we aim to offer both students and teachers an example of how a modern interpreter can be designed, focusing on object orientation and using modern tools like JavaCC and JJTrree.