Compiler Foundations Checkpoint

1. Which stage turns characters into tokens?

Lexing Parsing Code generation Optimization

2. A grammar primarily describes:

Valid structure of programs How fast the compiler runs How to emit machine code The exact runtime values

3. An AST differs from a parse tree because it:

Keeps only the meaningful structure Stores every punctuation token Is always flat Is only used for errors

4. Name one stage that typically comes after parsing.

5. Why track line and column in tokens?

To report useful errors To speed up parsing To compress the AST To avoid whitespace handling

6. IR stands for:

Intermediate Representation Instruction Register Input Recorder Inline Resolver