CMPUT 174

Oct. 17, 2016

Computation
- different kinds of information that is acquired, processed, stored, represented and communicated
Programming:
- computational problem solving
- program creation -> application creation
Translator translate computer program into machine instructions -> computer executes to perform
computation
2 types:
1. compiler translates entire program into machine instructions by compiling
2. interpreter translates one line of program into machine instructions -> executes line by line
Expression Interpretation
- process for single expression:
1. Lexical analysis divides into tokens; lexical error is syntax error
2. Syntax analysis assembles tokens into expression
3. Semantic analysis evaluate to compute result object -> type error
Note: None object shell prompt => ready to interpret another expression
Objects in Python
- created to represent data
- has identity, type, and value
Identity determined when object is created; immutable and unique (address in memory)
Type determines operations that can be performed + format and layout in memory (immutable) -> list type
objects are immutable
Value determines memory contents for each particular object of type; mutable (when operations can be
applied to change the value) or immutable depending on type
Tokens
Analogy
- Definition: smallest meaningful unit of information in sequence of data
- delimiters, literals, identifiers, operators, and keywords
Delimiters punctuation
Literal noun
identifier pronoun
operator verb
keyword all of the above
Examples
Literal -> floats, strings, ints
Identifier: letter or underscore -> zero or more letters, underscores, or digits -> keywords != identifiers ex.
None cant be a identifier

Literal Floats, Operators and Delimiters

 CMPUT 174
Oct. 17, 2016
- interpreters and compilers use the same tokens
Literal float token non-negative rational number (contains dot/decimal)
Operator token used to compute object from one or more operand object (refer to lexical table)
Note: lexical analyser always matches the longest character sequence from left to right
Delimiter token used to separate other tokens
Literal Ints, Literal Strings, Identifiers and Keywords
Keyword token sequence of letters (some keywords used as delimiters i.e. while, others used as operators i.e.
not), case sensitive
Identifier token used as a name to refer to an object in memory (starts with letter or underscore -> zero or
more letters, underscores, or digits (all keywords as valid identifiers, therefore excluded as identifiers)
Whitespace? -> terminates token (ignores) unless start of line or middle of string
Literal int token non-negative whole number (one or more digits)
Literal string token sequence of characters (ex. Hello)
Indent, Dedent, and Newline
Indentation token lexical analyser uses whitespace at the start of the line to compute indent
Dedent token unindented from prev. line or ignores whitespace if the level does not change
Newline token lexical analyser encounters end of line character (ex. enter)
Syntax
Analogy
- structure of statements in a computer language
- sentence in nat. language similar to computer language
- phrase similar to expression
Examples
- syntax rules prescribe the way tokens can be combined to create valid expressions and statements

[atomic expression]: [start] -> identifier token | literal int token | literal float token | literal str token | {True,
False, None} | (expression)

[unary expression]: [start] -> [unary operator {+, -, ~}] [expression]

[binary expression]: [start] -> [expression] [binary operator] [expression]

[binary operator] = {any operator token except for ~} | {
The individual keywords: or, and, in, is, } | {
The keyword pairs: not in, is not}
Atomic Expressions
expression single statement
atomic expression simplest form of expression
Semantics
References
 CMPUT 174
Oct. 17, 2016
- to access object in memory, need to reference object -> literals, identifiers, and some keywords are used
to reference
- unique literal token is bound to object in memory with diff. identity
- literal is bound to object -> sticky nametags -> cannot be unbound
- identifier can be bound or unbound -> detachable nametag
- keywords: True (bool), False (bool), and None (NoneType) are prebound
- Analogy: reference => name (refers to, but not actually object)
Atomic Expressions
- semantics for keyword: dereference to get result object
- semantics for literal token: if literal is bound, dereference to get result object, otherwise create result
object and bind literal to it
- semantics for identifier token: if identifier is bound, dereference to get result object, otherwise generate
error
Unary and Binary Expressions
- semantics for unary expression: evaluate expression to get object -> apply unary operator to get result
- semantics for unary minus operator: int and float are result object, however string reports type error
- semantics for binary expression: evaluate left and right to get object -> apply binary operator to get
result object
Operator Precedence
Operator Precedence table lower precedence means higher priority