Compilerbaus

Compilerbaus is a modular framework for building compilers and related tooling, designed for education as well as research in programming languages. It emphasizes a retargetable pipeline that cleanly separates the front end, an intermediate representation, optimizations, and back ends, allowing users to explore language design and code generation without implementing a complete compiler from scratch.

The project began in the mid-2010s as an open‑source initiative to standardize teaching practices in compiler construction and to provide a practical environment for experimentation. It has grown into a community-driven platform with contributions from universities and industry partners, and it is widely used in academic settings and labs.

Architecturally, Compilerbaus offers a modular front end based on declarative grammars and a configurable lexer, a multi‑level intermediate representation, and a pluggable optimization pass manager. Back ends target multiple architectures, supported by a backend abstraction layer that handles instruction selection, register allocation, and calling conventions. A tooling suite supports verification, testing, benchmarking, and debugging, while a plugin system enables extensions without modifying core code.

Key features include retargetable code generation, an extensible set of optimization passes, materialized test suites, and comprehensive documentation. The project promotes reproducible research by providing example languages, reference grammars, and tutorials that cover grammar design, IR design, and performance analysis.

Usage and impact: Compilerbaus is commonly used in undergraduate and graduate compiler courses, for research in program analysis and language design, and for rapid prototyping of new language features. While it aims to be approachable and educational, it also supports experiments that resemble industrial compiler pipelines, though it is generally not asserted as a production-grade replacement for large-scale toolchains like LLVM.

See also: compiler construction, LLVM, GCC, intermediate representation, parsing, back end, front end.