A compiler is a special program that processes statements written in a particular programming language and turns them into machine language or "code" that a computer's processor uses. Here are the steps describing the function of a compiler:

1. Lexical Analysis: The first phase of a compiler. It takes the modified source code from language preprocessors that are written in the form of sentences. The lexical analyzer breaks these syntaxes into a series of tokens, by removing any whitespace or comments in the source code.

2. Syntax Analysis: The next phase is syntax analysis or parsing. In this phase, the compiler follows the rules of a grammar to check if the series of tokens obtained in the lexical analysis phase can be parsed to form a valid sentence or not. It detects and reports any syntax errors.

3. Semantic Analysis: In this phase, the compiler checks the semantic consistency of the code. It verifies whether the parsed syntax is meaningful and logical or not. For example, it checks if the variables are declared before they are used, if the function is called with the correct number of arguments, etc.

4. Intermediate Code Generation: After semantic analysis, the compiler generates an intermediate code of the source code for the target machine. It represents a program for some abstract machine. It is between the high-level language and the machine language. This intermediate code should be generated in such a way that it makes it easy to translate into the target machine code.

5. Code Optimization: This phase attempts to improve the intermediate code so that the ultimate object program runs faster and takes less space. The optimization can be assumed to create more efficient code, although this is not always the case.

6. Code Generation: In this phase, the code generator takes the optimized intermediate code and maps it to the target machine language. The code generator translates the intermediate code into a sequence of (generally) re-locatable machine code. Sequence of instructions of machine code performs the task as the intermediate code would do.

7. Symbol Table: It is the data structure used by the compiler to keep track of semantics of variable. Basically, it is the implementation of an abstract data type or ADT. It is used to store the information about the identifier.

8. Error Handling: A compiler should be able to handle and report errors. Error handling is related to the identification of any errors that might occur in the code. Errors can be of a wide range, from lexical to semantic errors.

So, in summary, a compiler reads the program written in high-level language (source language) and translates it into an equivalent machine language program (target language) and also reports the errors in the source program encountered during the translation process.

Question

A compiler is a special program that processes statements written in a particular programming language and turns them into machine language or "code" that a computer's processor uses. Here are the steps describing the function of a compiler:

1. Lexical Analysis: The first phase of a compiler. It takes the modified source code from language preprocessors that are written in the form of sentences. The lexical analyzer breaks these syntaxes into a series of tokens, by removing any whitespace or comments in the source code.

2. Syntax Analysis: The next phase is syntax analysis or parsing. In this phase, the compiler follows the rules of a grammar to check if the series of tokens obtained in the lexical analysis phase can be parsed to form a valid sentence or not. It detects and reports any syntax errors.

3. Semantic Analysis: In this phase, the compiler checks the semantic consistency of the code. It verifies whether the parsed syntax is meaningful and logical or not. For example, it checks if the variables are declared before they are used, if the function is called with the correct number of arguments, etc.

4. Intermediate Code Generation: After semantic analysis, the compiler generates an intermediate code of the source code for the target machine. It represents a program for some abstract machine. It is between the high-level language and the machine language. This intermediate code should be generated in such a way that it makes it easy to translate into the target machine code.

5. Code Optimization: This phase attempts to improve the intermediate code so that the ultimate object program runs faster and takes less space. The optimization can be assumed to create more efficient code, although this is not always the case.

6. Code Generation: In this phase, the code generator takes the optimized intermediate code and maps it to the target machine language. The code generator translates the intermediate code into a sequence of (generally) re-locatable machine code. Sequence of instructions of machine code performs the task as the intermediate code would do.

7. Symbol Table: It is the data structure used by the compiler to keep track of semantics of variable. Basically, it is the implementation of an abstract data type or ADT. It is used to store the information about the identifier.

8. Error Handling: A compiler should be able to handle and report errors. Error handling is related to the identification of any errors that might occur in the code. Errors can be of a wide range, from lexical to semantic errors.

So, in summary, a compiler reads the program written in high-level language (source language) and translates it into an equivalent machine language program (target language) and also reports the errors in the source program encountered during the translation process.

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