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Comment by timtadh | Hacker News Reader

as @wglb said below I can't disagree with you more on the Dragon book. Yes, there are probably better resources out there for lexing and parsing but have your looked at the rest of the book? It actually covers most of the important static analysis techniques in sufficient detail to implement many of the important optimizations. In short: there is a reason people keep recommending it: it is a really great resource.

Also, if you do want to implement a traditional Yacc like parser generator then it is a pretty good resource for that as well (having done it). Finally, while writing a parser might be a "character building exercise" sometimes there is also no getting around it.

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Have you looked at it?

How can you say there are better references for lexing and parsing and leave out that the entire first half of the book is lexing and parsing?

There are a ton of books that are better at every single thing you would want. Engineering a Compiler. Modern Compiler Implementation in ML. The compiler Handbook.

I usually reference a combination of: Dragon Book, Muchnicks: Advanced Compiler Design, and Semantics with Applications. I have been meaning to pick up a copy of Engineering a Compiler. (I should also note I am currently reading: Principles of Program Analysis, it is a good book focusing on just theory. Read Semantics with Applications first it is basically the follow up)

A guess my point is this: I have learned a great deal from the Dragon book. I think it is a solid book that has taught me a lot. There may be better books out there but I haven't read one yet (Advanced Compiler Design is great but it really is only about optimization and analysis you need an undergrad book to supplement it).

Finally, I have encountered worse books on the subject of compilers. So yes, this is a book that I would recommend and continue to recommend.

ps. You mis-characterize the length of the lexing and parsing coverage. It starts on page 109 and ends on page 302, the content goes to 964. Chapter wise: 3-4 lexing->parsing, (chapter 1-2 are really an introduction and illustrative example so they don't count). Chapters 5-8 cover the rest of what you need to get a working compiler + some other stuff. Chapters 9-12 (page wise 583-964) cover optimization and analysis in depth. So really, nearly 40% is optimization while about 20% is syntax analysis. This book has a lot of good material most of it isn't to do with syntax analysis and the syntax analysis is for the most part high quality.

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