CS 142 (b) – Compiler Construction Project

CS 142 (b) – Compiler Construction Project Harry Xu Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Compiler is becoming more and more important …

General Information • Heavyweight project class • Drop the class immediately • If you don’t like programming • If you have more than one project classes • Require compiler background knowledge and C/C++ programming experience • TA • Gulfem Savrun Yeniceri • Email: gsavruny@uci.edu, office: CS 444

Project—Implement a Mini-JVM • Implement the functionality of the “java” command for a subset of the Java language • How a Java program is executed by a JVM • Interpreter • Optimizing compiler • Feedback-directed optimization system • Implement a static compiler as apposed to a dynamic compiler as used in modern JVMs √ √ X

Project Phases Phase 1: Parsing .class files Representations of fields, classes, and methods Interpreter Phase 2: Building an Interpreter Compiler Phase 3: Building SSA SSA representation Phase 4: Building dataflow optimizers Optimized code Phase 5: Generating executable code

Schedule • Phase 1: Parsing the .class file • Week 1, 1 lecture • Phase 2: Building an interpreter • Week 2 and 3, 1 lecture • Phase 3: Building SSA • Week 4 and 5, 1 lecture • Phase 4: Developing optimizations • Week 6 and 7, 2 lectures • Phase 5: Generating executable code • Week 8 and 9, 1 lecture • Demos in Week 10 • Lab sessions TBD

Expected Outcome • After this quarter, you will have hands-on experience with • What is inside a JVM • How to implement a real-world compiler • How interpreter works • Dataflow analysis and optimizations • X86 assembler

Grading Policy • I will provide a public set of test cases • If your project does phase 1, 2, and 3, you will be guaranteed to have a ‘B’ • If your project does all the five phases and passes all my test cases, you will get an ‘A’ • If your project does an additional dataflow optimization, you will get an ‘A+’

Overview of the .class File ClassFile { u4 magic; // (0xCAFEBABE) u2 minor_version; u2 major_version; u2 constant_pool_count; cp_infoconstant_pool[constant_pool_count-1]; u2 access_flags; u2 this_class; u2 super_class; u2 interfaces_count; u2 interfaces[interfaces_count]; u2 fields_count; field_info fields[fields_count]; u2 methods_count; method_info methods[methods_count]; u2 attributes_count; attribute_info attributes[attributes_count]; } http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jvms/se5.0/html/ClassFile.doc.html

Your Representation class Class{ Method[] methods; //instance and static Field[] fields; //instance and static Attribute[] attributes; Class[] superclasses; … } Class Method{ Qualifier[] qualifiers; Instruction[] instructions; } Instruction{ intopCode; Operand[] operands; }

No Need to Consider • Inner classes • Exception handling • Garbage collection • Anything related to runtime system

Last but the Least • Various tutorials and resources are available at the course website • You cannot rely solely on lectures; do your homework to learn whatever necessary for the project

CS 142 (b) – Compiler Construction Project