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Product Description
Engineering a Compiler, Third Edition, by Keith D. Cooper and Linda Torczon is the Morgan Kaufmann (Elsevier) paperback textbook that teaches how a modern compiler is built, from scanning and parsing through optimization and code generation.
Cooper and Torczon built production compilers before they wrote about them, and it shows. The book pairs the classic front-end theory with the practical questions that come up when you actually generate code: how to represent names and addresses at runtime, what shape the code for an expression or loop should take, and how optimization and register allocation interact. The third edition adds new chapters on semantic elaboration, runtime support, and code shape.
What's included
- Engineering a Compiler, Third Edition, paperback
- New chapters on semantic elaboration, runtime support for naming and addressability, and code shape
- In-depth coverage of front-end algorithms, optimization, and code generation
- Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann, an imprint of Elsevier
- ISBN-13: 9780128154120
Who it's for
Upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in a compilers course, software engineers working on language tooling, interpreters, or JIT runtimes, and anyone who found the Dragon Book heavy on theory and wants a text closer to how compilers are built today. Prior exposure to data structures and a systems language is assumed.
Why this edition
The third edition reorganized the middle of the book around how real compilers handle the gap between a parser and a code generator, which earlier editions covered more thinly. It keeps the strong treatment of optimization and code generation that made the book popular as a course text. If your syllabus lists Cooper and Torczon, this is the current edition.
Frequently asked questions
Is Engineering a Compiler better than the Dragon Book?
They serve different readers. The Dragon Book is more formal; Engineering a Compiler is more practical and reflects how modern compilers are structured. Many courses use this one.
Does the book cover LLVM?
It teaches the concepts LLVM implements, such as SSA form and instruction selection, rather than the LLVM API itself.
Is this the paperback?
Yes. This is the paperback third edition, ISBN 9780128154120.
Details
| Title | Engineering a Compiler |
|---|---|
| Edition | Third Edition |
| Format | Paperback |
| Publisher | Morgan Kaufmann (Elsevier) |
| ISBN-13 | 9780128154120 |
| Condition | New |
