Symbol table: a function from identifiers in the current scope to the symbol that defines relevant information about this identifier

All information is derived from syntax tree

• symbol table is interconnected with syntax tree
• in old one-pass compilers there was only symbol table, no syntax tree
• in modern compiler: we could always go through entire tree, but symbol table can give faster and easier access to the part of syntax tree, or some additional information

Goal: efficiently supporting phases of compiler

In the initial name analysis phase:

• finding which identifier refers to which definition
• we store definitions

What kinds of things can we define? What do we need to know for each definition?

• variables (globals, fields, parameters, locals)
  • need to know types
  • later: memory layout
    • e.g. 3rd field in an object should be stored at offset e.g. +6 from the address of the object
  • sometimes need to make more information explicit:
    • whether variable is declared local or global
• methods, functions, classes - recursively with their own tables