400 Top Compiler Design Lab Viva Questions and Answers

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400+ TOP Compiler Design LAB VIVA Questions and

Answers
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COMPILER DESIGN LAB VIVA Questions and Answers
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COMPILER DESIGN VIVA Questions :-

1. What is a compiler?
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A compiler is a program that reads a program written in one

language –the source language and translates it into an equivalent
program in another language-the target language. The compiler
reports to its user the presence of errors in the source program.
2. What are the two parts of a compilation? Explain

briefly.
Analysis and Synthesis are the two parts of compilation.

The analysis part breaks up the source program into
constituent pieces and creates an intermediate representation
of the source program.
The synthesis part constructs the desired target program from
the intermediate representation.
3. List the subparts or phases of analysis part.
Analysis consists of three phases:
Linear Analysis.
Hierarchical Analysis.
Semantic Analysis.
4. Depict diagrammatically how a language is processed.
Skeletal source program
Preprocessor
Source program
Compiler
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Target assembly program
Assembler
Relocatable machine code
Loader/ link editor ←library, relocatable object files
Absolute machine code
5. What is linear analysis?
Linear analysis is one in which the stream of characters making up

the source program is read from left to right and grouped into
tokens that are sequences of characters having a collective meaning.
Also called lexical analysis or scanning.
6. List the various phases of a compiler.
The following are the various phases of a compiler:
1. Lexical Analyzer
2. Syntax Analyzer
3. Semantic Analyzer
4. Intermediate code generator
5. Code optimizer
6. Code generator
7. What are the classifications of a compiler?
Compilers are classified as:
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1. Single- pass
2. Multi-pass
3. Load-and-go
4. Debugging or optimizing
8. What is a symbol table?
A symbol table is a data structure containing a record for each

identifier, with fields for the attributes of the identifier. The data
structure allows us to find the record for each identifier quickly and
to store or retrieve data from that record quickly.
Whenever an identifier is detected by a lexical analyzer, it is entered

into the symbol table. The attributes of an identifier cannot be
determined by the lexical analyzer.
9. Mention some of the cousins of a compiler.
Cousins of the compiler are:
Preprocessors
Assemblers
Loaders and Link-Editors
10. List the phases that constitute the front end of a

compiler.
The front end consists of those phases or parts of phases that

depend primarily on the source language and are largely
independent of the target machine. These include
Lexical and Syntactic analysis

The creation of symbol table
Semantic analysis
Generation of intermediate code
A certain amount of code optimization can be done by the
front end as well. Also includes error handling that goes along
with each of these phases.
11. Mention the back-end phases of a compiler.
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The back end of compiler includes those portions that depend on

the target machine and generally those portions do not depend on
the source language, just the intermediate language. These include
Code optimization
Code generation, along with error handling and symbol- table
operations.
12. Define compiler-compiler.
Systems to help with the compiler-writing process are often been

referred to as compiler-compilers, compiler-generators or
translator-writing systems.
Largely they are oriented around a particular model of languages ,

and they are suitable for generating compilers of languages similar
model.
13. List the various compiler construction tools.
The following is a list of some compiler construction tools:
1. Parser generators
2. Scanner generators
3. Syntax-directed translation engines
4. Automatic code generators
5. Data-flow engines
14. Differentiate tokens, patterns, lexeme.
1. Tokens- Sequence of characters that have a collective meaning.

2. Patterns- There is a set of strings in the input for which the
same token is produced as output. This set of strings is
described by a rule called a pattern associated with the token
3. Lexeme- A sequence of characters in the source program that
is matched by the pattern for a token.
15. List the operations on languages.
Union – L U M ={s | s is in L or s is in M}
Concatenation – LM ={st | s is in L and t is in M}
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Kleene Closure – L* (zero or more concatenations of L)

Positive Closure – L+ ( one or more concatenations of L)
16. Write a regular expression for an identifier.
An identifier is defined as a letter followed by zero or more letters or

digits.
The regular expression for an identifier is given as
letter (letter | digit)*
17. Mention the various notational shorthands for

representing regular expressions.
One or more instances (+)

Zero or one instance (?)
Character classes ([abc] where a,b,c are alphabet symbols
denotes the regular expressions a | b | c.)
Non regular sets
18. What is the function of a hierarchical analysis?
Hierarchical analysis is one in which the tokens are grouped

hierarchically into nested collections with collective meaning.
Also termed as Parsing.
19. What does a semantic analysis do?
Semantic analysis is one in which certain checks are performed to

ensure that components of a program fit together meaningfully.
Mainly performs type checking.
20. List the various error recovery strategies for a lexical

analysis.
Possible error recovery actions are:
Panic mode recovery
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Deleting an extraneous character

Inserting a missing character
Replacing an incorrect character by a correct character
Transposing two adjacent characters
Compiler Design – Set 2
21. Define parser.

Hierarchical analysis is one in which the tokens are grouped
hierarchically into nested collections with collective meaning.
Also termed as Parsing.
22. Mention the basic issues in parsing.

There are two important issues in parsing.
1. Specification of syntax
2. Representation of input after parsing.
23. Why lexical and syntax analyzers are separated out?

Reasons for separating the analysis phase into lexical and syntax
analyzers:
Simpler design.
Compiler efficiency is improved.
Compiler portability is enhanced.
24. Define a context free grammar.

A context free grammar G is a collection of the following
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V is a set of non terminals

T is a set of terminals
S is a start symbol
P is a set of production rules
G can be represented as G = (V,T,S,P)
Production rules are given in the following form
Non terminal → (V U T)*
25. Explain the concept of derivation.

Derivation from S means generation of string w from S. For
constructing derivation two things are important.
i) Choice of non terminal from several others.
ii) Choice of rule from production rules for corresponding non

terminal.
Instead of choosing the arbitrary non terminal one can choose
i) either leftmost derivation – leftmost non terminal in a sentinel

form
ii) or rightmost derivation – rightmost non terminal in a sentinel

form
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26. Define ambiguous grammar.

A grammar G is said to be ambiguous if it generates more than one
parse tree for some sentence of language L(G).
i.e. both leftmost and rightmost derivations are same for the given
sentence.
27. What is a operator precedence parser?

A grammar is said to be operator precedence if it possess the
following properties:
1. No production on the right side is ε.
2. There should not be any production rule possessing two adjacent

non terminals at the right hand side.
28. List the properties of LR parser.

1. LR parsers can be constructed to recognize most of the
programming languages for which the context free grammar can be
written.
2. The class of grammar that can be parsed by LR parser is a

superset of class of grammars that can be parsed using predictive
parsers.
3. LR parsers work using non backtracking shift reduce technique

yet it is efficient one.
29. Mention the types of LR parser.
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1. SLR parser- simple LR parser

2. LALR parser- lookahead LR parser
3. Canonical LR parser
30. What are the problems with top down parsing?

The following are the problems associated with top down parsing:
Backtracking
Left recursion
Left factoring
Ambiguity
31. Write the algorithm for FIRST and FOLLOW.

FIRST
1. If X is terminal, then FIRST(X) IS {X}.
2. If X → ε is a production, then add ε to FIRST(X).
3. If X is non terminal and X → Y1,Y2..Yk is a production, then

place a in FIRST(X) if for some i , a is in FIRST(Yi) , and ε is in all of
FIRST(Y1),…FIRST(Yi-1);
FOLLOW
1. Place $ in FOLLOW(S),where S is the start symbol and $ is the

input right endmarker.
2. If there is a production A → αBβ, then everything in FIRST(β)

except for ε is placed in FOLLOW(B).
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3. If there is a production A → αB, or a production A→ αBβ where

FIRST(β) contains ε , then everything in FOLLOW(A) is in
FOLLOW(B).
32. List the advantages and disadvantages of operator

precedence parsing.
Advantages
1. This typeof parsing is simple to implement.
Disadvantages
1. The operator like minus has two different precedence(unary and

binary).Hence it is hard to handle tokens like minus sign.
2. This kind of parsing is applicable to only small class of grammars.
33. What is dangling else problem?

Ambiguity can be eliminated by means of dangling-else grammar
which is show below:
stmt → if expr then stmt
| if expr then stmt else stmt
| other
34. Write short notes on YACC.

YACC is an automatic tool for generating the parser program.
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YACC stands for Yet Another Compiler Compiler which is basically

the utility available from UNIX.
Basically YACC is LALR parser generator.
It can report conflict or ambiguities in the form of error messages.
35. What is meant by handle pruning?

A rightmost derivation in reverse can be obtained by handle
pruning.
If w is a sentence of the grammar at hand, then w = γn, where γn is

the nth right-sentential form of some as yet unknown rightmost
derivation
S = γ0 => γ1…=> γn-1 => γn = w
36. Define LR(0) items.

An LR(0) item of a grammar G is a production of G with a dot at
some position of the right side. Thus, production A → XYZ yields
the four items
A→.XYZ
A→X.YZ
A→XY.Z
A→XYZ.
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37. What is meant by viable prefixes?

The set of prefixes of right sentential forms that can appear on the
stack of a shift-reduce parser are called viable prefixes. An
equivalent definition of a viable prefix is that it is a prefix of a right
sentential form that does not continue past the right end of the
rightmost handle of that sentential form.
38. Define handle.

A handle of a string is a substring that matches the right side of a
production, and whose reduction to the nonterminal on the left side
of the production represents one step along the reverse of a
rightmost derivation.
A handle of a right – sentential form γ is a production A→β and a

position of γ where the string β may be found and replaced by A to
produce the previous right-sentential form in a rightmost derivation
of γ. That is , if S =>αAw =>αβw,then A→β in the position following
α is a handle of αβw.
39. What are kernel & non-kernel items?

Kernel items, whish include the initial item, S’→ .S, and all items
whose dots are not at the left end.
Non-kernel items, which have their dots at the left end.
40. What is phrase level error recovery?

Phrase level error recovery is implemented by filling in the blank
entries in the predictive parsing table with pointers to error
routines. These routines may change, insert, or delete symbols on
the input and issue appropriate error messages. They may also pop
from the stack.
41. What are the benefits of intermediate code generation?
A Compiler for different machines can be created by attaching

different back end to the existing front ends of each machine.
A Compiler for different source languages can be created by
proving different front ends for corresponding source
languages t existing back end.
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A machine independent code optimizer can be applied to

intermediate code in order to optimize the code generation.
42. What are the various types of intermediate code

representation?
There are mainly three types of intermediate code representations.
Syntax tree
Postfix
Three address code
43. Define backpatching.

Backpatching is the activity of filling up unspecified information of
labels using appropriate semantic actions in during the code
generation process.In the semantic actions the functions used are
mklist(i),merge_list(p1,p2) and backpatch(p,i)
44. Mention the functions that are used in backpatching.
mklist(i) creates the new list. The index i is passed as an

argument to this function where I is an index to the array of
quadruple.
merge_list(p1,p2) this function concatenates two lists pointed
by p1 and p2. It returns the pointer to the concatenated list.
backpatch(p,i) inserts i as target label for the statement
pointed by pointer p.
45. What is the intermediate code representation for the

expression a or b and not c?
The intermediate code representation for the expression a or b and
not c is the three address sequence
t1 := not c
t2 := b and t1
t3 := a or t2
46. What are the various methods of implementing three

address statements?
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The three address statements can be implemented using the

following methods.
Quadruple : a structure with atmost four fields such as

operator(OP),arg1,arg2,result.
Triples : the use of temporary variables is avoided by
referring the pointers in the symbol table.
Indirect triples : the listing of triples has been done and
listing pointers are used instead of using statements.
47. Give the syntax-directed definition for if-else

statement.
1. S → if E then S1
E.true := new_label()
E.false :=S.next
S1.next :=S.next
S.code :=E.code | | gen_code(E.true ‘: ‘) | | S1.code
2. S → if E then S1 else S2
E.true := new_label()
E.false := new_label()
S1.next :=S.next
S2.next :=S.next
S.code :=E.code | | gen_code(E.true ‘: ‘) | | S1.code| | gen_code(‘go

to’,S.next) | |gen_code(E.false ‘:’) | | S2.code
48. Mention the properties that a code generator should

possess.
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The code generator should produce the correct and high

quality code. In other words, the code generated should be
such that it should make effective use of the resources of the
target machine.
Code generator should run efficiently.
Define and use – the three address statement a:=b+c is
said to define a and to use b and c.
Live and dead – the name in the basic block is said to be
live at a given point if its value is used after that point in the
program. And the name in the basic block is said to be dead at
a given point if its value is never used after that point in the
program.
49. What is a flow graph?

A flow graph is a directed graph in which the flow control
information is added to the basic blocks.
1. The nodes to the flow graph are represented by basic blocks

2. The block whose leader is the first statement is called initial
block.
3. There is a directed edge from block B1 to block B2 if B2
immediately follows B1 in the given sequence. We can say that
B1 is a predecessor of B2.
50. What is a DAG? Mention its applications.

Directed acyclic graph(DAG) is a useful data structure for
implementing transformations on basic blocks.
DAG is used in
Determining the common sub-expressions.

Determining which names are used inside the block and
computed outside the block.
Determining which statements of the block could have their
computed value outside the block.
Simplifying the list of quadruples by eliminating the common
su-expressions and not performing the assignment of the
form x := y unless and until it is a must.
51. Define peephole optimization.

Peephole optimization is a simple and effective technique for locally
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improving target code. This technique is applied to improve the

performance of the target program by examining the short sequence
of target instructions and replacing these instructions by shorter or
faster sequence.
52. List the characteristics of peephole optimization.
1. Redundant instruction elimination

2. Flow of control optimization
3. Algebraic simplification
4. Use of machine idioms
53. How do you calculate the cost of an instruction?

The cost of an instruction can be computed as one plus cost
associated with the source and destination addressing modes given
by added cost.
MOV R0,R1 1
MOV R1,M 2
SUB 5(R0),*10(R1) 3
54. What is a basic block?

A basic block is a sequence of consecutive statements in which flow
of control enters at the beginning and leaves at the end without halt
or possibility of branching.
Eg. t1:=a*5
t2:=t1+7
t3:=t2-5
t4:=t1+t3
t5:=t2+b
55. How would you represent the following equation

using DAG?
a:=b*-c+b*-c
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56. Mention the issues to be considered while applying

the techniques for code optimization.
The semantic equivalence of the source program must not be

changed.
The improvement over the program efficiency must be
achieved without changing the algorithm of the program.
The machine dependent optimization is based on the
characteristics of the target machine for the instruction set
used and addressing modes used for the instructions to
produce the efficient target code.
The machine independent optimization is based on the
characteristics of the programming languages for appropriate
programming structure and usage of efficient arithmetic
properties in order to reduce the execution time.
Available expressions
Reaching definitions
Live variables
Busy variables
57. What are the basic goals of code movement?
1. To reduce the size of the code i.e. to obtain the space

complexity.
2. To reduce the frequency of execution of code i.e. to obtain the
time complexity.
58. List the different storage allocation strategies.

The strategies are:
Static allocation
Stack allocation
Heap allocation
59. What are the contents of activation record?

The activation record is a block of memory used for managing the
information needed by a single execution of a procedure. Various
fields f activation record are:
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Temporary variables
Local variables
Saved machine registers
Control link
Access link
Actual parameters
Return values
60. What is dynamic scoping?

In dynamic scoping a use of non-local variable refers to the non-
local data declared in most recently called and still active
procedure. Therefore each time new findings are set up for local
names called procedure. In dynamic scoping symbol tables can be
required at run time.
61. Define symbol table.

Symbol table is a data structure used by the compiler to keep track
of semantics of the variables. It stores information about scope and
binding information about names.
62. What is code motion?

Code motion is an optimization technique in which amount of code
in a loop is decreased. This transformation is applicable to the
expression that yields the same result independent of the number of
times the loop is executed. Such an expression is placed before the
loop.
63. What are the properties of optimizing compiler?

The source code should be such that it should produce minimum
amount of target code.
There should not be any unreachable code.
Dead code should be completely removed from source language.
The optimizing compilers should apply following code improving

transformations on source language.
i) common subexpression elimination
ii) dead code elimination
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iii) code movement
iv) strength reduction
64. What are the various ways to pass a parameter in a

function?
1. Call by value
2. Call by reference
3. Copy-restore
4. Call by name
65. Suggest a suitable approach for computing hash

function.
Using hash function we should obtain exact locations of name in
symbol table.
The hash function should result in uniform distribution of names in

symbol table.
The hash function should be such that there will be minimum

number of collisions. Collision is such a situation where hash
function results in same location for storing the names.
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Home » COMPILER DESIGN VIVA Questions » 400+ TOP

400+ TOP COMPILER DESIGN

Your Career Is Not A Meme

College Students Should Brush Up Their Skills. Ta

COMPILER DESIGN VIVA Questions :-

A compiler is a program that reads a program written in one

2. What are the two parts of a compilation? Explain

Analysis and Synthesis are the two parts of compilation.

3. List the subparts or phases of analysis part.

Analysis consists of three phases:

4. Depict diagrammatically how a language is processed.

Skeletal source program

Target assembly program

Relocatable machine code

Loader/ link editor ←library, relocatable object files

Absolute machine code

5. What is linear analysis?

Linear analysis is one in which the stream of characters making up

Also called lexical analysis or scanning.

6. List the various phases of a compiler.

The following are the various phases of a compiler:

7. What are the classifications of a compiler?

Compilers are classified as:

8. What is a symbol table?

A symbol table is a data structure containing a record for each

Whenever an identifier is detected by a lexical analyzer, it is entered

9. Mention some of the cousins of a compiler.

Cousins of the compiler are:

10. List the phases that constitute the front end of a

The front end consists of those phases or parts of phases that

Lexical and Syntactic analysis

11. Mention the back-end phases of a compiler.

The back end of compiler includes those portions that depend on

12. Define compiler-compiler.

Systems to help with the compiler-writing process are often been

Largely they are oriented around a particular model of languages ,

13. List the various compiler construction tools.

The following is a list of some compiler construction tools:

14. Differentiate tokens, patterns, lexeme.

1. Tokens- Sequence of characters that have a collective meaning.

15. List the operations on languages.

Kleene Closure – L* (zero or more concatenations of L)

16. Write a regular expression for an identifier.

An identifier is defined as a letter followed by zero or more letters or

The regular expression for an identifier is given as

letter (letter | digit)*

17. Mention the various notational shorthands for

One or more instances (+)

18. What is the function of a hierarchical analysis?

Hierarchical analysis is one in which the tokens are grouped

Also termed as Parsing.

19. What does a semantic analysis do?

Semantic analysis is one in which certain checks are performed to