Please note that the description of the course work might be updated from time to time to clarify things or fix mistakes.
- Part 1 (parser), Thursday 11 October 2018 at 11am, weight = 20%
- Part 2 (ast builder + semantic analyser), Thursday 25 October 2018 at 11am, weight = 20%
- Part 3 (code generator), Thursday 15 November 2018 at 11am, weight = 30%
Note that specific instructions for each part can be found above by clicking on the part name.
We automatically run a series of hidden test programs using your compiler about twice a day. You can keep track of your progress and see how many tests pass/fail using the scoreboard by following the scoreboard link.
The marking will be done using an automated test suite on a dice machine using Java 8 (1.8 runtime).
Please note that you are not allowed to modify the Main.java file which is the main entry point to the compiler.
A checksum on the file will be performed to ensure the file has not be tempered with.
Also make sure that the build script provided remains unchanged so that your project can be built on dice.
Furthermore, you may not use any external libraries.
For parts 1-3 of the coursework, the marking will be a function of the number of successful tests as shown in the scoreboard and a series of hidden tests.
66.6% of the mark will be determined by the scoreboard tests and 33.3% will be determined by the hidden tests. You will get one point for each passing test and -1 for each failing test (only for the lexer, parser and semantic analysis components). Then, the mark is calculated by dividing the number of points achieved by the number of tests. The hidden tests are marked independently from the visible ones.
66.6% of the mark will be determined by the visible scoreboard tests and 33.3% will be determined by the hidden tests and 10% by the test coverage. The mark will directly be proportial to the number of passed tests (no negative point).
Although we do not mark you on the tests you will create for testing your own compiler, we do ask you to add all the tests you used into the tests folder of your repository.
If we find students that do not have any tests (or very few), and they managed to pass most of our tests, this will raise suspicion that this might be a case of academic misconduct.
Also make sure that you do not share your tests as they should be written by yourself alone (we will run plagiarism detection software on all the code, including the tests, that is in your repository).
We will rely on gitlab and it is mandatory to use it for this coursework. GitLab is an online repository that can be used with the git control revision system. The university runs a GitLab hosting service, and all students are provided with an account. The username is your univeristy id number (sXXXXXXX) and your password is the EASE. Please make sure to use your university id when login on the University gitlab, otherwise, we will be unable to automatically mark your coursework.
Important: do not share your code and repository with anyone and keep your source code secret. If we identify that two students have identical portion of code, both will be considered to have cheated.
We are going to be using the Git revision control system during the course. Git is installed on DICE machines. If you use your own machine then make sure to install Git.
You will need to have your own copy of the ct-18-19 repository. In order to fork this repository, click the fork button.
Then, make the repository private.
Now, grant access to the teaching staff.
Next, you will have to clone the forked repository to your local machine. In order to clone the repository you should launch a terminal and type:
$ git clone https://sXXXXXXX@git.ecdf.ed.ac.uk/sXXXXXXX/ct-18-19.git
where sXXXXXXX is your student id
You can choose to use a development environment for your project. DICE machines have the following integrated development environments (IDE) for Java installed:
Alternatively, you can use Emacs, vim, or your favourite text editor. Choose whichever you are confident with.
We reccommend using IntelliJ Idea. To launch it on dice machines, open a terminal and type
idea18-ce
To import the project, after idea launches select "Import Project" and select the root directory of your project. On the following screen, ensure that the "Create project from existing sources" option is selected. You will then be presented with a series of screens. Just keep selecting "Next" without modifying any options. If you are asked whether to overwrite an existing .iml file, select the overwrite option.
To confirm that the project is setup correctly, you can try to run the Main.java file directly from the idea. To do so, right click the Main file in the src directory. In the context menu, select the "Run Main.main()" option. The program should now have run successfully
If you prefer to use eclipse, then launch via
eclipse
Once eclispe has started, all you will have to do is to go on File > Open Project from File Systems, select the root directory of your project, and click finish.
In order to build the project you must have Ant installed. On DICE machines Ant is already installed.
Your local copy of the ct-18-19 repository contains an Ant build file (build.xml).
If you are using an IDE, then you can import the build file.
Otherwise, you can build the project from the commandline by typing:
$ ant build
This command outputs your compiler in a directory called bin within the project structure. Thereafter, you can run your compiler from the commandline by typing:
$ java -cp bin Main
The parameter cp instructs the Java Runtime to include the local directory bin when it looks for class files.
You can find a series of tests in the tests folder. To run the lexer on one of them, you can type:
$ java -cp bin Main -lexer tests/fibonacci.c dummy.out
You can clean the bin directory by typing:
$ ant clean
This command effectively deletes the bin directory.
Since we are using an automated marking mechnism (based on how many progams can run successfully through your compiler), it is important to understand how git works. If you want to benefit from the nightly automatic marking feedback, please ensure that you push all your changes daily onto your GitLab centralised repository.
We suggest you follow the excelent tutorial from atlassian on how to use git. In particular you will need to understand the following basic meachnisms: