Course Information

COMP 520
MW 12:20 PM – 01:35 PM
FB009
Syllabus
Course Schedule

Instructor

Cynthia Sturton
csturton@cs.unc.edu
FB354
Office Hours Calendar

Course Description

Design and construction of compilers. Theory and pragmatics of lexical, syntactic, and semantic analysis. Interpretation. Code generation for a modern architecture. Run-time environments. Includes a large compiler implementation project.

The course is open to CS undergraduate students who have completed (with a grade of C or higher) COMP 301, 311, and 455. Graduate students with the equivalent background coursework are welcome and should contact the instructor for permission to enroll.

Textbooks

The required textbook is Engineering a Compiler, 3rd Ed. by Keith D. Cooper and Linda Torczon.

Project

Students will build a compiler for Mini, a C-like language (courtesy of Aaron Keen), that targets the RISC-V ISA.

Key Dates

FDOC: 8/18/25
LDOC: 12/3/25
Final Exam: 12/12/25 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM