Compilers on Karpoke - Just Another Blog

The Abstract Syntax Tree

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 13:03:41 +0100

Introduction One of the first steps a compiler must take is parse the human-readable…

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Reflections on Trusting Trust

Fri, 15 Aug 2014 08:05:00 +0100

You can’t trust code that you did not totally create yourself. (Especially code from companies that employ people like me.) No amount of source-level verification or scrutiny will protect you from using untrusted code. In demonstrating the possibility of this kind of attack, I picked on the C compiler. I could have picked on any program-handling program such as an assembler, a loader, or even hardware microcode. As the level of program gets lower, these bugs will be harder and harder to detect. A well installed microcode bug will be almost impossible to detect.

Why Java is a compiled language and Python is not

Sat, 24 May 2014 07:36:00 +0100

One comment’s answer was ’marketing’, which in a sense is correct; one reason we call Java a compiled language is that that’s what Sun called it from the start. Another comment noted that Java has an explicit compilation phase that is separate from having the JVM execute your Java program by interpreting the bytecodes. All of this points us towards what I feel is the real answer:

In Java, bytecode is a first class object. In Python it’s an internal implementation detail.