what is compiler frontend ?
A compiler frontend is a crucial component responsible for translating the high-level source code of a programming language into an intermediate representation (IR) that captures the essential semantics of the code. This IR serves as an input to the backend of the compiler, which further translates it into machine code or another target language suitable for execution on a specific architecture. Components of a Compiler Frontend: 1. Lexical Analysis (Tokenizer): The process begins with lexical analysis, where the source code is broken down into tokens—basic units such as identifiers, keywords, literals (like numbers and strings), and punctuation symbols. This phase utilizes regular expressions and finite automata to recognize and classify tokens based on predefined rules. 2. Syntax Analysis (Parser): Once tokens are identified, the syntax analysis phase verifies whether the sequence of tokens adheres to the grammar rules of the programming language specified by a context-free gram...