編譯器是歷史最悠久的計算機程式之一，負責把利用高階語言撰寫的程式轉成低階語言的格式，以利底層平台(虛擬機器、作業系統、硬體等)的執行。編譯器是支程式，但不是會寫程式的人就會寫編譯器。理由之一，編譯器很大，要撰寫維護如此規模的程式必須擁有更精進的程式技巧與經驗。理由之二，編譯器開發至今已有很完備的理論基礎，脫離了這些理論要寫出有用的編譯器，縱使不是緣木求魚也一定事倍功半。
本課程將談論編譯器的理論與實作。至於編譯器課程的重要性，底下文字摘錄自 ACM 以及 IEEE Computer Society 主導之 2008 年版計算機科學課程規劃書： Several industrialists passed very positive comment about compiler courses. Although many companies do not engage in anything related to compilers, compiler writing tended to be seen as a microcosm for realistic software development. So good compiler writers are often seen as desirable; they tend to be good software engineers.

課程大綱：
* compiler structure
* regular expression & context-free grammar
* lexical analysis
* syntactic analysis
* compiler construction tools
* symbol table management
* semantic analysis
* intermediate code synthesis
* runtime memory management
* basic optimization
* target code generation