1.4 Theoretical Viewpoint
Before we go ahead with knowing more details about a compiler, it is worthwhile to know what the formal language and automata theory have to say about a compiler. A more substantial account is given in Appendix A, but here we have bare minimum.
1.4.1 Acceptor and Compiler
In formal language theory, a compiler is simply an acceptor, which reads input strings and outputs “Yes” or “No”, depending upon whether a string is in language L1 or not (see Fig. 1.10).
Fig. 1.10 Compiler as an acceptor
A compiler is useless if it does not point out errors. (Yes, but which errors?) A real compiler does this by typing out errors! ...
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