History of Compiler Construction

History Of Compiler Construction

In computing, a compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language or computer language (the source language), into another computer language (the target language, often having a binary form known as object code or Machine code). The most common reason for wanting to transform source code is to create an executable program.

Any program written in a high level programming language must be translated to object code before it can be executed, so all programmers using such a language use a compiler or an interpreter. Thus, compilers are very important to programmers. Any improvement to a compiler leads to a large number of improved executable programs.

Compilers are large and complex programs, but systematic analysis and research by computer scientists has led to a clearer understanding of compiler construction and a large body of theory has been developed around them. Research into compiler construction has led to tools that make it much easier to create compilers, so that today computer science students can create their own small language and develop a simple compiler for it in a few weeks.