THREE ADDRESS CODES
Introduction
• Intermediate code is the interface between front end and back end in a
compiler
• Ideally the details of source language are confined to the front end and
the details of target machines to the back end (a m*n model)
• In this chapter we study intermediate representations, static type
checking and intermediate code generation
Static Intermediate Code Code
Parser
Checker Generator Generator
Front end Back end
Variants of syntax trees
• It is sometimes beneficial to crate a DAG instead of tree for Expressions.
• This way we can easily show the common sub-expressions and then use
that knowledge during code generation
• Example: a+a*(b-c)+(b-c)*d
+ *
*
d
a -
b c
SDD for creating DAG’s
Production Semantic Rules
1) E -> E1+T E.node= new Node(‘+’, E1.node,T.node)
2) E -> E1-T E.node= new Node(‘-’, E1.node,T.node)
3) E -> T E.node = T.node
4) T -> (E) T.node = E.node
5) T -> id T.node = new Leaf(id, id.entry)
6) T -> num T.node = new Leaf(num, num.val)
Example:
1) p1=Leaf(id, entry-a) 8) p8=Leaf(id,entry-b)=p3
2) P2=Leaf(id, entry-a)=p1 9) p9=Leaf(id,entry-c)=p4
3) p3=Leaf(id, entry-b) 10) p10=Node(‘-’,p3,p4)=p5
4) p4=Leaf(id, entry-c) 11) p11=Leaf(id,entry-d)
5) p5=Node(‘-’,p3,p4) 12) p12=Node(‘*’,p5,p11)
6) p6=Node(‘*’,p1,p5) 13) p13=Node(‘+’,p7,p12)
7) p7=Node(‘+’,p1,p6)
Value-number method for constructing DAG’s
= id To entry for i
num 10
+ + 1 2
3 1 3
i 10
• Algorithm
• Search the array for a node M with label op, left child l and right child r
• If there is such a node, return the value number M
• If not create in the array a new node N with label op, left child l, and right child r
and return its value
• We may use a hash table
Three address code
• In a three address code there is at most one operator at the right side of
an instruction
• Example:
+
t1 = b – c
+ * t2 = a * t1
t3 = a + t2
* t4 = t1 * d
d
t5 = t3 + t4
a -
b c
Forms of three address instructions
• x = y op z
• x = op y
• x=y
• goto L
• if x goto L and ifFalse x goto L
• if x relop y goto L
• Procedure calls using:
• param x
• call p,n
• y = call p,n
• x = y[i] and x[i] = y
• x = &y and x = *y and *x =y
Example
• do i = i+1; while (a[i] < v);
L: t1 = i + 1 100: t1 = i + 1
i = t1 101: i = t1
t2 = i * 8 102: t2 = i * 8
t3 = a[t2] 103: t3 = a[t2]
if t3 < v goto L 104: if t3 < v goto 100
Symbolic labels Position numbers
Data structures for three address codes
• Quadruples
• Has four fields: op, arg1, arg2 and result
• Triples
• Temporaries are not used and instead references to instructions are made
• Indirect triples
• In addition to triples we use a list of pointers to triples
Example Three address code
t1 = minus c
t2 = b * t1
• b * minus c + b * minus c t3 = minus c
t4 = b * t3
t5 = t2 + t4
a = t5
Quadruples Triples Indirect Triples
op arg1 arg2 result op arg1 arg2 op op arg1 arg2
minus c t1 0 minus c 35 (0) 0 minus c
* b t1 t2 1 * b (0) 36 (1) 1 * b (0)
minus c t3 2 minus c 37 (2) 2 minus c
* b t3 t4 3 * b (2) b (2)
38 (3) 3 *
+ t2 t4 t5 4 + (1) (3) 39 (4) 4 + (1) (3)
= t5 a 5 = a (4) 40 (5) 5 = a (4)
Type Expressions
Example: int[2][3]
array(2,array(3,integer))
• A basic type is a type expression
• A type name is a type expression
• A type expression can be formed by applying the array type constructor to a
number and a type expression.
• A record is a data structure with named field
• A type expression can be formed by using the type constructor g for
function types
• If s and t are type expressions, then their Cartesian product s*t is a type
expression
• Type expressions may contain variables whose values are type expressions
Declarations
Storage Layout for Local Names
• Computing types and their widths
Three-address code for expressions
Incremental Translation
Addressing Array Elements
• Layouts for a two-dimensional array:
Semantic actions for array reference
Translation of Array References
Nonterminal L has three synthesized
attributes:
•L.addr
•L.array
•L.type
Conversions between primitive types
in Java
Introducing type conversions into
expression evaluation
Abstract syntax tree for the function
definition
fun length(x) =
if null(x) then 0 else length(tl(x)+1)
This is a polymorphic function
in ML language
Three Address Codes for Control Flow Stmts
Boolean expressions are often used to:
•Alter the flow of control.
•Compute logical values.
Short-Circuit Code
Flow-of-Control Statements
Syntax-directed definition
Generating three-address code for booleans
translation of a simple if-statement
•
•
Backpatching
• Previous codes for Boolean expressions insert symbolic labels for
jumps
• It therefore needs a separate pass to set them to appropriate
addresses
• We can use a technique named backpatching to avoid this
• We assume we save instructions into an array and labels will be
indices in the array
• For nonterminal B we use two attributes B.truelist and B.falselist
together with following functions:
• makelist(i): create a new list containing only I, an index into the array of
instructions
• Merge(p1,p2): concatenates the lists pointed by p1 and p2 and returns a
pointer to the concatenated list
• Backpatch(p,i): inserts i as the target label for each of the instruction on the
list pointed to by p
Backpatching for Boolean Expressions
•
•
Backpatching for Boolean Expressions
• Annotated parse tree for x < 100 || x > 200 && x ! = y
Flow-of-Control Statements
Translation of a switch-statement
Thank You
