Lexical Analysis
Lexical analysis is the first phase of a compiler or interpreter that processes source code by breaking it down into a sequence of tokens, such as keywords, identifiers, operators, and literals. It involves scanning the input character stream, removing whitespace and comments, and identifying meaningful lexical units based on predefined patterns or regular expressions. This process transforms raw text into a structured token stream that can be efficiently parsed in subsequent compilation stages.
Developers should learn lexical analysis when building compilers, interpreters, or tools that process structured text, such as domain-specific languages, configuration parsers, or code linters. It is essential for understanding how programming languages are implemented, enabling efficient syntax checking and error detection early in the compilation pipeline. Mastery of this concept helps in optimizing performance and handling complex input formats in software development.