©SIRJOEL EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Compiler Construction Midterm Exam
Questions And Answers
Every compiler converts a(n) ___ program to a(n) ___ program. - Answers✔True
An on-demand backup can negatively impact a table's performance and availability. (T/F) -
Answers✔False
What type of compilers do many Java interpreters use? - Answers✔just-in-time
What do macros get converted into? - Answers✔source language statements
What does the assembler do? - Answers✔Converts assembly code into machine code.
What are the two main parts of a compiler? - Answers✔analysis and synthesis
The analysis part of the compiler passes what two things on to the synthesis part? -
Answers✔intermediate representation and symbol table
The synthesis part of a compiler is also called the - Answers✔back end.
The symbol table is - Answers✔used by all phases of the compiler.
Another name for scanning is - Answers✔lexical analysis.
1|Page
, ©SIRJOEL EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
In the lexical analyzer example in the book, what are the token names? - Answers✔id, 60, =, +,
*
Another name for parsing is - Answers✔syntax analysis.
In a syntax tree an interior node represents - Answers✔an operation.
In the example in sections 1.2.1 and 1.2.2, what does <id, 3> represent? - Answers✔rate
In what stage is the syntax tree built? - Answers✔syntax analysis
In what stage does type checking occur? - Answers✔semantic analysis
The example on coercion uses - Answers✔an integer and a float.
Which is not an example of an intermediate representation? - Answers✔symbol table
Which is not a reason given in the book to optimize code? - Answers✔readable target code
Where are variable and procedure names stored? - Answers✔symbol table
How can we support multiple target machines for a single source language? -
Answers✔multiple back ends
In a generation classification of programming languages, Java is what? - Answers✔third-
generation
The problem of generating the optimal target code from a source program is -
Answers✔undecidable.
2|Page
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Of the four design objectives of compiler optimizations, which is the most important? -
Answers✔correctness
What do finite-state machines and regular expressions model? - Answers✔keywords and
identifiers
What early feature of the C programming language was useful early on but actually could result
in inefficient code if used today? - Answers✔the register keyword
What compiler optimizations analyze the flow of data through a program? - Answers✔data-
flow optimizations
Java has many features listed in the reading that make programming easier. What is true about
all of them? - Answers✔They incur run-time overhead.
What can be found in most computers both at the instruction level and at the processor level? -
Answers✔parallelism
According to the book, what is probably the single most important problem in optimizing a
program? - Answers✔using registers effectively
In the old days, compilers were developed _______ computer architecture design. -
Answers✔after
The x86 processor - Answers✔has a CISC instruction set but it is most effective when only its
simple instructions are used.
3|Page
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Compiler Construction Midterm Exam
Questions And Answers
Every compiler converts a(n) ___ program to a(n) ___ program. - Answers✔True
An on-demand backup can negatively impact a table's performance and availability. (T/F) -
Answers✔False
What type of compilers do many Java interpreters use? - Answers✔just-in-time
What do macros get converted into? - Answers✔source language statements
What does the assembler do? - Answers✔Converts assembly code into machine code.
What are the two main parts of a compiler? - Answers✔analysis and synthesis
The analysis part of the compiler passes what two things on to the synthesis part? -
Answers✔intermediate representation and symbol table
The synthesis part of a compiler is also called the - Answers✔back end.
The symbol table is - Answers✔used by all phases of the compiler.
Another name for scanning is - Answers✔lexical analysis.
1|Page
, ©SIRJOEL EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
In the lexical analyzer example in the book, what are the token names? - Answers✔id, 60, =, +,
*
Another name for parsing is - Answers✔syntax analysis.
In a syntax tree an interior node represents - Answers✔an operation.
In the example in sections 1.2.1 and 1.2.2, what does <id, 3> represent? - Answers✔rate
In what stage is the syntax tree built? - Answers✔syntax analysis
In what stage does type checking occur? - Answers✔semantic analysis
The example on coercion uses - Answers✔an integer and a float.
Which is not an example of an intermediate representation? - Answers✔symbol table
Which is not a reason given in the book to optimize code? - Answers✔readable target code
Where are variable and procedure names stored? - Answers✔symbol table
How can we support multiple target machines for a single source language? -
Answers✔multiple back ends
In a generation classification of programming languages, Java is what? - Answers✔third-
generation
The problem of generating the optimal target code from a source program is -
Answers✔undecidable.
2|Page
, ©SIRJOEL EXAM SOLUTIONS 2024/2025
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Of the four design objectives of compiler optimizations, which is the most important? -
Answers✔correctness
What do finite-state machines and regular expressions model? - Answers✔keywords and
identifiers
What early feature of the C programming language was useful early on but actually could result
in inefficient code if used today? - Answers✔the register keyword
What compiler optimizations analyze the flow of data through a program? - Answers✔data-
flow optimizations
Java has many features listed in the reading that make programming easier. What is true about
all of them? - Answers✔They incur run-time overhead.
What can be found in most computers both at the instruction level and at the processor level? -
Answers✔parallelism
According to the book, what is probably the single most important problem in optimizing a
program? - Answers✔using registers effectively
In the old days, compilers were developed _______ computer architecture design. -
Answers✔after
The x86 processor - Answers✔has a CISC instruction set but it is most effective when only its
simple instructions are used.
3|Page
