Course details

Formal Languages and Compilers (in English)

IFJe Acad. year 2025/2026 Winter semester 5 credits

Current academic year

This course discusses formal languages and their models. Based on these models, it explains the construction of compilers. The lectures are organized as follows: (I) Basic notions: formal languages and their models, grammars, automata; compilers. (II) Regular languages and lexical analysis: regular languages and expressions, finite automata, lexical analyzer; symbol table. (III) Context-free languages and syntax analysis: context-free grammars, pushdown automata, deterministic top-down syntax analysis (recursive descent), the essence of deterministic bottom-up syntax analysis. (IV) Semantic analysis and code generation: intermediate code generation, optimization, code generation.

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Exam prerequisites

To be allowed to take the final exam, the student must obtain 20 points during the semester; out of these 20 points, at least 5 points must be obtained from the project.

Guarantor

Meduna Alexandr, prof. RNDr., CSc. (DIFS)

Course coordinator

Křivka Zbyněk, Ing., Ph.D. (DIFS)

Language of instruction

English

Completion

Credit+Examination (written)

Time span

  • 39 hrs lectures
  • 13 hrs projects

Assessment points

  • 55 pts final exam (written part)
  • 20 pts mid-term test (written part)
  • 25 pts projects

Department

Department of Information Systems (UIFS)

Lecturer

Křivka Zbyněk, Ing., Ph.D. (DIFS)
Meduna Alexandr, prof. RNDr., CSc. (DIFS)

Instructor

Havel Martin, Ing. (DIFS)
Křivka Zbyněk, Ing., Ph.D. (DIFS)

Learning objectives

Familiarity with formal languages and their models. Grasp of compiler construction.
Fundamental familiarity with the theory of formal languages. Ability of a compiler construction.

Recommended prerequisites

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Discrete mathematics.

Study literature

  • Parsons, T. W.: Introduction to Compiler Construction. Freeman, New York, 1992.
  • Meduna, A.: Elements of Compiler Design. Taylor & Francis, New York, 2008.
  • Nystrom, R.: Crafting Interpreters.‎ Genever Benning, 2021, Available online http://craftinginterpreters.com.

Fundamental literature

  • Meduna, A.: Formal Languages and Computation: Models and Their Applications. Taylor & Francis, New York, 2014.

Syllabus of lectures

  • Basics of formal languages: alphabet, strings, languages.
  • Introduction to compiler design: structure of a compiler.
  • Regular languages and their models: regular expressions, finite automata.
  • Variants of finite automata.
  • Lexical analysis: lexical analyzer, symbol table.
  • Context-free languages and their models: context-free grammars, pushdown automata.
  • Pushdown automata and general parsing.
  • Deterministic top-down syntax analysis: recursive descent.
  • Deterministic bottom-up syntax analysis: simple precedence analysis.
  • Chomsky hierarchy and the corresponding models. Remarks and summary.

Syllabus - others, projects and individual work of students

The task is to implement and document a program which, given a composition of functions, transforms it to an equivalent mathematical expression. 

Progress assessment

  • Mid-term exam - 20 points.
  • Project - 25 points.
  • Final exam - 55 points. To be allowed to take the final exam, the student has to obtain 20 points during the semester; out of these 20 points, at least five points have to be obtained from the project.

 

 


 

Course inclusion in study plans

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