What This Document Is
This document details a foundational assignment for a computer science course focused on compiler design and theoretical foundations. Specifically, it outlines the requirements for building a lexical analyzer – a crucial first step in the process of translating human-readable code into a format computers can understand. The assignment centers around recognizing and categorizing different components, or “tokens,” within a simplified programming language. It’s a practical exercise designed to solidify understanding of formal languages and automata theory.
Why This Document Matters
This resource is essential for students enrolled in compiler design, programming languages, or theoretical computer science courses. It’s particularly valuable when you’re beginning to grapple with the complexities of how programming languages are processed. If you’re tasked with creating a lexical analyzer, or need a strong grasp of tokenization, this will be a key reference point. Understanding lexical analysis is also beneficial for anyone interested in language parsing, interpreter development, or even advanced text processing.
Common Limitations or Challenges
This document focuses *solely* on the lexical analysis phase. It does not cover subsequent stages of compilation, such as parsing, semantic analysis, or code generation. It also assumes a basic understanding of finite state machines and regular expressions, though it doesn’t provide a comprehensive review of those concepts. The assignment is limited to a specific, simplified language; applying these principles to real-world programming languages will require further learning. It also doesn’t address error handling beyond a stated assumption of syntactically correct input for initial testing.
What This Document Provides
* A detailed specification of the target “mini-language” for the lexical analyzer.
* A comprehensive list of token types that the analyzer must identify.
* Specific numerical codes assigned to each token type for output purposes.
* Guidelines for program input and expected output formatting.
* A sample input sequence to illustrate the expected behavior of the completed program.
* A clear description of the assignment’s overall goals and objectives.
