CS 640 -- Advanced Compilers

      Fall 2008

      Dr. Elizabeth White
      office: S & T II, Rm. 429 (993-1586)
      email: white@gmu.edu

      Topics

      • Data-flow and control-flow analysis
      • Code Generation
      • Global Optimization (inter- and intra-procedural)
      • Register Allocation
      • Instruction Scheduling
      • Generation and Optimization for Parallel, OO and Functional Programming Environments (vectorization, loop transforamtion, instruction scheduling)

      Course Resources

      You will need one of the following textbooks:
      • Engineering a Compiler, Cooper & Torczon
      • "Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools", A. Aho, M. Lam, R. Sethi and J. Ullman (also known as the "dragon" book), 2007. NOTE: the earlier edition is not sufficient
      There will also be papers (to be determined later)

      Related Resources

      Some of the material from this course is also covered in:
      • Modern Compiler Implementation in Java, A. Appel, Cambridge Press.
      • "High Performance Compiling for Parallel Computing", M. Wolfe
        • Focuses on issues for compiling to high performance architectures.
      • "Advanced Compiler Design and Implementation" S. Muchnick, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 1997.
      • "Optimizing Compilers for Modern Architectures", R. Allen and K. Kennedy, Morgan Kauffman Publishers, 2002.
      The last two texts are difficult reading, but are state of the art on this subject.

      Course Requirements

      • Exams: Midterm Exam (20%), Final Exam (20%)
        Both exams (midterm and final) will have an in-class portion and a take-home portion. The honor code will be in effect for both portions of the exam, including the take home portion
      • Homeworks (20%)
        Homeworks may be done in groups or individually.
      • Projects (40%)
        There will be at least three programming assignments, all requiring you to implement algorithms we are studying. These projects may assume standard front end skills you would acquire in a class like CS 540. Programming assignments are to be individual efforts, unless I specify otherwise.
      You are expected to abide by the honor code for work done in this class. All work is to be your individual effort unless I tell you otherwise. Current information about this course will be kept on a CS640 web page: http://cs.gmu.edu/~white/CS640/