Is it beneficial for a programmer to learn how to build a compiler?

Question

There is a lot of variety when it comes to the different types of programmers. In general, is beneficial for a programmer to learn how to build a compiler? In what cases would compiler programming be, or not be, needed?

Answer 1

Compiler programming is an interesting topic and there is some great value to it. At the college I went to it was an elective, Language Design and Implementation. I'm personally grateful to have taken it. We learned the various ways to implement lexers, parsers, and bytecode emitters.

The real value that I've seen is that it illuminated the black box that I depend on to get my program up and running. It gave me a better insight into how the compiler works, and helped me better understand compiler errors.

The process of compiling source into code is actually in a general way what most programs do, take some input, perform some process, and output the result. A compiler has some very well-defined ideas on how this should best be done.

I think in all it was beneficial to me, and currently I work on Java based web apps.

Answer 2

I am in the process of reading through The Dragon Book (Compilers) and during the beginning of the book you are greeted with the following:

Although few people are likely to build or even maintain a compiler for a major programming language, the reader can profitably apply the ideas and techniques discussed in this book for general software design. For example, the string matching techniques for building lexical analysers have also been used in text editors, information retrieval systems, and pattern recognition programs. Context-free grammars and syntax-directed definitions have been used to build many little languages such as the typesetting and figure drawing systems that produced this book. The techniques of code optimisation have been used in program verifiers, and in programs that produce "structured" programs from unstructured code.

In short, you won't just be learning how to build a compiler. You'll be learning many different lower-level techniques along the way to assist you in everyday programming. Although some say it is a dated book I still enjoy it and I would recommend it, even though the reading can get a bit heavy. If you do get it leave a good amount of time to read it and understand it.