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From: wang@pilchuck.data-io.com (Frank Wang)
Newsgroups: comp.compilers
Subject: compiler testing
Message-ID: <704@ima.ISC.COM>
Date: Fri, 28-Aug-87 18:09:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: ima.704
Posted: Fri Aug 28 18:09:56 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 11-Sep-87 06:46:40 EDT
Sender: johnl@ima.ISC.COM
Reply-To: wang@pilchuck.data-io.com (Frank Wang)
Organization: Data I/O Corporation; Redmond, WA
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Approved: compilers@ima.UUCP

We are designing a special purpose compiler for a new product.  It seems
not very difficult to make it work.  But testing is a problem to us now.
How can I make sure that no invalid syntax or other errors are not validated
by this compiler?  Are there any books or articles about this?

						Frank Wang
[If you use a compiler generator like yacc you can be reasonbly sure that the
language that it parses is the same as the one defined by the grammar. Beyond
that, I've not seen much work about making sure that all errors are caught by
the compiler; people seem to be more concerned about making sure that correct
programs compile correctly than that incorrect programs are all failed
correctly. -John]
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