Meet my project Hydrogen: a Java compiler that’s as simple as a hydrogen atom—small and unassuming, but handle it wrong, and it might just blow up!
I don’t want to bore you with all the technical details of compiler design, but if you’ve dealt with data structures and algorithms, you know that string manipulation is crucial. A compiler essentially breaks down a language into manageable pieces. It starts with a tokenizer (or lexer) that converts the code into tokens. These tokens are then passed to a parser, which generates intermediate code. Finally, this code is translated into assembly language. It’s like transforming complex text into something a machine can understand!
So, are compilers just about string manipulation? Not quite. If you think compiling is just rearranging words, you’re missing the bigger picture. Compilers are much more complex—they transform high-level ideas into machine code, checking syntax, semantics, and optimizing along the way. It’s like assembling a complex machine from blueprints, not just piecing together a few parts!