Compilers Principles, Techniques & Tools By Aho, Sethi & Ullman

 

This article reviews the book “Compilers Principles, Techniques and Tools” by Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, D. Jeffrey Ullman and Monica S. Lam.

The article covers-

• Special features of book
• Analysis of Content
• Analysis of Exercises
• Necessary Instructions
• Conclusion

 

Why Should Be Read?

 

Special Features of Book-

 

The special features of this book are-

• It is the best book among the few available reference books for this subject.
• It covers much more than what is present in the GATE syllabus.
• It discusses the content in quite clear, simple and lucid style.
• It is suitable for beginners as well as intermediate students.
• It has sufficient number of exercise questions which are high in quality.

 

Analysis of Content-

 

The following table analyzes sections of the book that are relevant for GATE-

 

Chapter No.	GATE Relevant Sections	GATE Topics Covered
1	All Sections	Introduction to Compilers
2	All Sections	Basics of Syntax Directed Translator
3	3.1 to 3.5	Lexical Analysis and Tokens
4	4.1.1	Introduction to Syntax Analysis
	4.1.2
	4.2	Context Free Grammars (Overlaps with Theory of Computation Syllabus)
	4.3
	4.4	Top-Down Parsing
	4.5	Bottom-Up Parsing
	4.6 to 4.9	LR Parsing and Parser Generators
5	All Sections	Syntax Directed Translation
6	6.1	Directed Acyclic Graphs
	6.2	Three Address Code
	6.6	Control Flow and Backpatching
	6.7
7	7.2	Stack Allocation & Accessing Data on Stack
	7.3
	7.4	Heap Management

Covering Only These Sections Is Enough

 

Analysis of Exercises-

 

The following table analyzes exercises of the book that are relevant for GATE-

 

Chapter No.	Question No.
1	1.6.1, 1.6.2, 1.6.3, 1.6.4
2	2.2.1 to 2.2.6, 2.3.1 to 2.3.5, 2.4.1, 2.6.1 to 2.6.3
3	3.1.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, 3.3.5, 3.3.6, 3.3.7, 3.3.9, 3.3.10
4	4.2.1 to 4.2.8, 4.3.1 to 4.3.3, 4.4.1, 4.4.3, 4.4.4, 4.4.5, 4.4.6, 4.4.7, 4.5.1 to 4.5.3, 4.6.1 to 4.6.7, 4.7.1 to 4.7.5, 4.8.1
5	5.1.1 to 5.1.3, 5.2.1 to 5.2.5, 5.3.1 to 5.3.3, 5.4.2 to 5.4.6, 5.5.1 to 5.5.5
6	6.1.1, 6.1.2, 6.2.1, 6.2.2, 6.2.3, 6.6.1, 6.6.3, 6.6.4, 6.6.5, 6.6.6, 6.7.1 to 6.7.3
7	7.2.1 to 7.2.5, 7.3.1, 7.3.2, 7.4.1

Practicing Only These Exercises Is Enough

 

Necessary Instructions-

 

Keep the following instructions in mind while reading the book-

• The book has nearly 1000 pages.
• So, be selective and read only the relevant sections from the book.
• If you follow the GATE syllabus, the number of pages reduces significantly.
• Target code generation and code optimization are no longer the part of syllabus.
• From the past 2-3 years, the weightage of this subject has reduced.
• In last previous years, there have been hardly one or two questions asked.
• So, prepare accordingly keeping in mind the weightage of this subject.
• The exercise questions of this book are at par with the level of questions asked in the GATE exam.
• Practicing exercise questions along with previous year questions is sufficient to perform excellent.

 

Conclusion-

 

• This textbook covers many more topics than those mentioned in the GATE syllabus.
• Reading in accordance with the above discussed sections ensure all the topics are covered.
• The exercise questions are excellent for practice while preparing for GATE.
• This book is a must read for students to understand how a compiler actually works.

 

THIS BOOK IS SELF-SUFFICIENT FOR GATE EXAM.

 

 

Amazon Rating

 

Student’s Reviews-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other Recommended Books-

 

Compiler Design By O.G. Kakde-