Compiler Construction - Exam 1
Questions with 100% Correct Answers
Name all of the phases of a compiler - ✔✔1. lexical analysis
2. syntax analysis
3. semantic analysis
4. intermediate code generation
5. code optimization
6. code generation
Briefly describe lexical analysis - ✔✔Conversion of input from lexemes to a
stream of tokens
Briefly describe syntax analysis - ✔✔Makes sure the tokens occur in a
meaningful order (ensures syntactically correct program)
Briefly describe semantic analysis - ✔✔A check for meaning among the
"sentences" created by syntax analysis
Briefly describe intermediate code generation - ✔✔Creation of a machine-
independent representation of the source code
1
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
, Briefly describe code optimization - ✔✔Removal of unnecessary
instructions in an attempt to increase speed or decrease program size
Briefly describe code generation - ✔✔Creation of a machine-dependent
translation from the intermediate code to the target language
Single Line vs Multiline Comment: Advantages and Disadvantages -
✔✔Single line: easy for lex analyzer to process since its presence tells the
analyzer to ignore the rest of the line, but more difficult to implement since
it can easily be mistaken for an operation instead of something to ignore
Multiline: easier to use from a programmer's perspective, but more difficult
for the scanner to detect since there is a chance the closing delimiter may
not be found
What does ambiguity mean and how is it solved in most grammars? -
✔✔Ambiguity is an instance in which more than 1 parse tree can be
created to represent the grammar. It is fixed using left-factoring to create
the desired parse tree.
What is LL(1) grammar? How do you determine if a CFG is in the class? -
✔✔A grammar that is scanned from left to right using left-most derivation
with a 1 token lookahead
2
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
Questions with 100% Correct Answers
Name all of the phases of a compiler - ✔✔1. lexical analysis
2. syntax analysis
3. semantic analysis
4. intermediate code generation
5. code optimization
6. code generation
Briefly describe lexical analysis - ✔✔Conversion of input from lexemes to a
stream of tokens
Briefly describe syntax analysis - ✔✔Makes sure the tokens occur in a
meaningful order (ensures syntactically correct program)
Briefly describe semantic analysis - ✔✔A check for meaning among the
"sentences" created by syntax analysis
Briefly describe intermediate code generation - ✔✔Creation of a machine-
independent representation of the source code
1
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
, Briefly describe code optimization - ✔✔Removal of unnecessary
instructions in an attempt to increase speed or decrease program size
Briefly describe code generation - ✔✔Creation of a machine-dependent
translation from the intermediate code to the target language
Single Line vs Multiline Comment: Advantages and Disadvantages -
✔✔Single line: easy for lex analyzer to process since its presence tells the
analyzer to ignore the rest of the line, but more difficult to implement since
it can easily be mistaken for an operation instead of something to ignore
Multiline: easier to use from a programmer's perspective, but more difficult
for the scanner to detect since there is a chance the closing delimiter may
not be found
What does ambiguity mean and how is it solved in most grammars? -
✔✔Ambiguity is an instance in which more than 1 parse tree can be
created to represent the grammar. It is fixed using left-factoring to create
the desired parse tree.
What is LL(1) grammar? How do you determine if a CFG is in the class? -
✔✔A grammar that is scanned from left to right using left-most derivation
with a 1 token lookahead
2
©JOSHCLAY 2024/2025. YEAR PUBLISHED 2024.
