Book excerpts:

Written to support a practically oriented course in programming language translation, this book combines theory, practical applications and the use of compiler writing tools to give students a solid introduction to the subject.

Highly accessible in approach, it provides a sufficient level of theory without overwhelming the reader with too much mathematical detail. Extensive case studies of translators are interspersed throughout, allowing the reader to view the theory in practice.

C++ is used for the illustrations in the text, whilst source code for all of them is provided on the accompanying disk in C++, Modula-2 and Pascal. Stressing the importance of compiler tools in modern practice, the book describes the use of a powerful tool (also provided on the disk) for generating recursive descent compilers in C++, Modula-2 or Pascal. The compiler generator, Coco/R, is used as this is simple, fast and clean and very understandable for this level of student.

Recognising both the importance and complexity of object-oriented programming at this level of instruction, the author has made a careful choice of limited OOP features. A comprehensive set of exercises allows the reader to develop the material further at many different levels.

This book is specifically aimed at students who are probably quite competent in the art of imperative programming (for example, in C++, Pascal, or Modula-2), but whose mathematics may be a little weak, and those who require only a solid introduction to the subject, so as to provide them with insight into areas of language design and implementation, rather than a deluge of theory which they will probably never use again.

It will hopefully also appeal to a certain class of hobbyist who wishes to know more about how translators work. The reader is expected to have a good knowledge of programming in an imperative language and, preferably, a knowledge of data structures.