Learning Compiler Design: From the Implementation to Theory

Abstract

In this work, we propose an educational technique that allows to improve the learning of the main theoretical concepts of a Compiler Design course. Instead of starting from the theory, and then explaining to the students how the implementation is obtained in each of the phases of building a compiler, we propose to use as a starting point the implementation obtained by the students through the use of automatic code generation tools. With the help of an Interactive Tutoring System, we guide the learning of the main theoretical concepts from the implementation obtained, deepening and reinforcing their understanding of the theory in relation to the code. In this way, students are able to better relate both parts and apply them together, resulting in a more solid design of language processing tools. As a preliminary evaluation of the described technique, we show the results obtained by the students in the last courses.