Object Representation of Scope During Translation

Abstract

Languages, such as C++, that combine static type checking with inheritance pose a challenge to the compiler writer: the flexibility of the type and scope system implies that a compiler must be able to cope with data structures of a complexity far exceeding what is needed for traditional languages. Fortunately, they also supply the means for coping with this complexity. This paper describes the strategies devised for representing and manipulating C++ scopes and the storage management techniques employed to make these representations efficient. The techniques have been used to implement a C++ compiler in C++.