How does a C compiler parse code?

Asked Aug 21 '12 at 05:40

Active Aug 21 '12 at 05:45

Viewed 112 times

Possible Duplicate:
What does the operation c=a+++b mean?

When it comes to four lines of C code, what would a compiler do and why?

  int a = 1, b = 2;
  a+++b;
  a---b;
  a++-b;
  a-++b;

I heard about a terminology like 'greedy compiler', could anyone explain a little further?

Thanks a lot.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:56

Community

asked Aug 21 '12 at 05:40

Chao Zhang

1

Entire books (quite a few of them) are written about how a compiler works -- and they're fairly large, complex books at that. – Jerry Coffin Aug 21 '12 at 05:44
@JerryCoffin Is it quite hard to find a simpler explanation? – Chao Zhang Aug 21 '12 at 05:46
Yes -- there are a number of steps (lexing, parsing, AST generation, etc.) involved, each of which is fairly substantial by itself. – Jerry Coffin Aug 21 '12 at 05:48
Why on earth was this closed? Hint, the first one goes like this: `a+++b` --> `a = a++ + b`, so the expression evaluates to 3, and `a` is 2 after the evaluation is complete. – prelic Aug 21 '12 at 05:52
@prelic Its an exact duplicate of another question. – Fantastic Mr Fox Aug 21 '12 at 05:53
@Ben - Ah, I see...wouldn't it be helpful to link that for the OP? – prelic Aug 21 '12 at 05:55
@prelic - the link is above the question now. – MByD Aug 21 '12 at 05:58
hahaha, its an exact duplicate of an exact duplicate. – Fantastic Mr Fox Aug 21 '12 at 06:27
This question is asked at least twice per week. Maybe try the search function of this site before posting... – Lundin Aug 21 '12 at 06:38

0 Answers0