CS 6120: Advanced Compilers: The Self-Guided Online Course (cs.cornell.edu)

Article summary

CS 6120 is a PhD-level Cornell CS course on programming language implementation, covering topics such as intermediate representations, data flow, and optimizations. The course is available online and consists of reading papers and open-source hacking tasks using LLVM and an educational IR. The course materials include videos, written notes, and implementation tasks, and are available on GitHub. The course is self-guided and open to anyone, with no deadlines or grades.

Main themes

• Compiler design
• Programming language implementation
• Online education
• CS education
• Compiler optimization
• Programming languages

What commenters say

• The field of compilers has not evolved much in the past 30 years, with many concepts and techniques remaining the same.
• The development of compilers for functional programming languages has seen significant advancements in recent years.
• The target of compilers, such as machine code and assembly, has changed dramatically over time, offering new optimizations and combinations.
• Some argue that compiler textbooks are outdated and focus too much on parsing, while others believe that modern compiler techniques are not well-represented in academic courses.
• The use of C++ in compiler development is still relevant and widely used in the industry, despite the emergence of newer languages like Rust.
• Rust is considered a better choice than C++ for new projects, including compiler development, due to its safety features and modern design.
• The course CS 6120 is considered advanced and may be challenging for those without a strong background in computer science, but some argue that anyone can try it and learn from it.
• There is a lack of in-depth academic resources for advanced compiler optimization, with many techniques requiring diving deep into the source code of popular open-source compilers.