D. Grune, H. Bal, C. Jacobs, K. Langendoen
Amazon Price: $73.38
List Price: $85.00
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: Wiley
Amazon Marketplace: 36
new & used starting at $28.57
|
Buy at Amazon.com
|
Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Networking -> General AAS
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> Languages & Tools -> Compiler Design
Subjects -> Computers & Internet -> Programming -> Languages & Tools -> Compilers
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10
Average rating: 3.5 of 5
Very good 4 out of 5 stars.
9 of 11 people found this review helpful.
Overall, this is an excellent book for compilers. It covers a broad range of concepts. On think that I like is that the authors didn't take the very popular approach of "hey, let's write a small subset of Pascal". They actually only covers the concepts. So, this is not a beginner's book.Algorithms are written in "english pseudo-code" and, altought I tought it'd be a good idea, it ended up being harder to read than the "usual pseudo-code" (like in the Dragon book).
Good bits but somewhat boring 3 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
Yes, this is a good text about compilers, mainly about theory. It has good insights into the area of compiler design, and it approaches many topics with ideas that aren't common in compiler books. However, many of these topics are only touched upon, with no depth, requiring you to look for other references.
Other very good feature of the book is covering compilation of languages from other paradigms. Most compiler books are geared towards mainstream imperative and object-oriented languages. This one has chapters on compilation of functional, logic and parallel programming languages as well. There is ample evidence that declarative programming paradigms in general, and functional programming in particular, are becoming ever more important in the computing industry, and this trend should go on. After all, throughout all the history of computing, the trend was always to go for more abstraction and less implementation details. So it's important to take contact with other paradigms.
Ok, so it's good in general. But it is incredibly boring to read, and I say that as someone who's very into compilers and own a lot of books on the subject. As another reviewer said, the text is often convoluted and hard to read; the organization is mostly good, but it tends to have big sections and big chapters (some very big chapters). Add to that the completely uninspiring layout and typography -- really, it's a very dull and bland look -- and I had serious trouble to read some chapters. Besides, the pseudo-code notation is really bad; better typography for the pseudo-code sections could help too.
To sum it up, if you only have to buy a single book on compilers, I would recommend against this one. Try "Engineering a Compiler" by Cooper & Torczon or wait the new edition of the dragon book by Aho et al. This one is good maybe as a second book, to get complementary insights and new ideas to explore about compilers, especially if you are researching on them, or looking for new ideas to escape from the mainstream.
But if there's ever another edition of this book, I would seriously recommend the authors to rethink its layout and typography to make it more attractive, get help with improving the text and break some chapters and sections in more maneageable pieces. Then it would be a really great book about compilers.
Editorial Review:
While focusing on the essential techniques common to all language paradigms, this book provides readers with the skills required for modern compiler construction. All the major programming types (imperative, object-oriented, functional, logic, and distributed) are covered. Practical emphasis is placed on implementation and optimization techniques, which includes tools for automating compiler design.
