Symbol table

In computer science, a symbol table is a data structure used by translators programs such as the compiler or interpreter that maps each symbol in the source code information such as the location of occurrence, the data type or a pointer to a structure in memory. The term symbol is used in this context in the sense of identifiers.

Usually, a symbol table is implemented by a hash table. It can be built either only temporarily during translation or be held longer to facilitate later troubleshooting about using a debugger.

In programming languages ​​such as Lisp, the symbol table plays a role beyond that, because it is also the central data structure of the runtime system.

  • Data structure
  • Compiler
Interpreter (computing) Integrated Authority File
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