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World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies

WorldCIST 2022: Information Systems and Technologies pp 338–346Cite as

Evaluation of the Use of Different Parser Generators in a Compiler Construction Course

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Part of the Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems book series (LNNS,volume 470)

Abstract

Compiler construction is a common course in many computer science degrees. Although there are different lexer and parser generation tools, Lex/Yacc is still the preferred option in multiple universities. ANTLR is a powerful compiler construction tool that, among other features, provides parser generation. Although ANTLR has been used in the implementation of different languages and software tools, it is not as common as Lex/Yacc in compiler construction courses. Therefore, we conduct an experiment to evaluate the impact of using ANTLR instead of Lex/Yacc in courses where students build a compiler. To that aim, we divide the year-3 students of a Programming Language Design and Implementation course into two random groups. The course is delivered using Lex/Yacc for one group and ANTLR for the other one. Different values are measured to statistically compare both approaches, including the work completed by the students, the number of hours it took them to finish different tasks, their anonymous opinion about the parser generator used, and their performance. The use of ANTLR shows significant benefits in most of the evaluations.

Keywords

  • Parser generation
  • Compiler construction
  • Parser
  • Lexer
  • ANTLR
  • Lex
  • Yacc

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Acknowledgments

This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Department of Science, Innovation, and Universities: project RTI2018-099235-B-I00. The authors have also received funds from the University of Oviedo through its support to official research groups (GR-2011-0040).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science Department, University of Oviedo, C/Federico Garcia Lorca 18, 33007, Oviedo, Spain

    Francisco Ortin, Jose Quiroga, Oscar Rodriguez-Prieto & Miguel Garcia

  2. Cork Institute of Technology, Computer Science Department, Munster Technological University, Rossa Avenue, Bishopstown, Cork, T12 P928, Ireland

    Francisco Ortin

Authors
  1. Francisco Ortin
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  2. Jose Quiroga
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  3. Oscar Rodriguez-Prieto
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  4. Miguel Garcia
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francisco Ortin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Alvaro Rocha

  2. College of Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Dr. Hojjat Adeli

  3. Institute of Data Science and Digital Technologies, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Dr. Gintautas Dzemyda

  4. DCT, Universidade Portucalense, Porto, Portugal

    Prof. Fernando Moreira

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Ortin, F., Quiroga, J., Rodriguez-Prieto, O., Garcia, M. (2022). Evaluation of the Use of Different Parser Generators in a Compiler Construction Course. In: Rocha, A., Adeli, H., Dzemyda, G., Moreira, F. (eds) Information Systems and Technologies. WorldCIST 2022. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 470. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04829-6_30

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