pl0c VS cproc

> Some compilers tokenize while parsing, but for a different reason: it's faster and uses less memory to generate the AST

And some don't even generate an AST. :) Just read in and emit or interpret.

https://briancallahan.net/blog/20210814.html

Single-pass compiler tutorial

Let's Write a Compiler

I don’t think there will be an AST. https://briancallahan.net/blog/20210814.html: “We will be writing a single-pass compiler for a simple language and immediately output our final output code as soon as our compiler has enough information to do so”

That “as soon as” implies code will be generated before the entire program has been parsed.

Also, for me single-pass implies “no AST”, as you would need at least one pass to construct one, and iterating over an AST counts as another pass for me.

Michaelforney has also built croc [1], a qbe based C compiler. Really impressive!

[1]: https://github.com/michaelforney/cproc

A word of warning for those wondering: this is not for Intel syntax, despite referencing the Intel doc.

Minias can assemble itself

...but it's written in C and uses a parser generator? IMHO it feels a bit backwards --- and perhaps even a bit cheating if you're doing this for a "bootstrap pilgrimage" --- to write a lower-level tool in a higher-level language. On the other hand, the same author also links to a C compiler in C, without a parser generator: https://github.com/michaelforney/cproc

Cproc C Compiler\ (29 comments)