Rating: 
Summary: Very Cool
Review: I dunno how many people like me tried to read this book.* I am not very math oriented.
* I dont have a CS degree.
* I am generally a dumb dude. I am reading this purely for fun. I had a lot of trouble just understand the concept of CFG's. Since the text was dense, I had to look up other resources (web) to clarify and understand whats described. What I dicovered was that book contained the best and shortest description and explanation of the concepts. In other words highly optimized. Every day read a couple of pages and every day this book fills me with new ideas and joy! Conclusion: The text is terse. For an average guy like me, it is a little hard on the poor brain. With a little effort, hard work and patience this is proably the best book for concepts. Santy
Rating: 
Summary: Great book. What you need to know.
Review: I had to write a CORBA idl compiler and my last acquaintance with compiler programming was a college course 15 years old. I found this book to be an indispensible review and it helped me greatly, especially in dealing with the grammar issues.
Rating:
Summary: The winner and still champion...
Review: I hadn't looked at this book since my last year in college. And, I hadn't thought of compiler writing in as long. But when faced with the task of writing an interpreter for a small embedded app, I rediscovered how great this text is. Another reviewer made the comment that this book is useless for self study. I agree that, if you haven't had exposure, and your math is rusty, you'll have a difficult time with this topic. There's a reason IDG hasn't published "Compiler Writing for Dummies." It's a difficult subject. This book is aimed at readers who have a heavy background in CS/Mathematics, or a really good teacher. I've read it a couple times now, as well as others. No other book gives a better grounding in the fundamentals of this advanced and difficult subject.
Rating:
Summary: best compiler introduction
Review: I have read two books on compiler and this one certainly is better. It's not an easy book but its not too difficult either. Book is well compiled and information is well organized. Examples are mostly in C language so 'C' is the pre-requisite for this but that's it. I don't think you need any additional help to digest this book. After reading this one, you can make a fully functional compiler of you own.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for hard-core compiler gurus
Review: I picked this text up in anticipation for a compiler course at Georgia Tech. I have not read any other compiler books, so I have little to compare it to. However, I can definitely say that this is a book for people who are looking for "hard-core" compiler knowledge. It is a very dry and meticulous book. Contrary to the opinions of other reviewers, this is not an "easy to understand text". It will take quite a bit of determination to get the most out of it. If you don't love the stuff, you'll stop reading at page 100 or so. As for topics explained in this book, it seems to cover just about everything you will need to understand and write a full-blown compiler.
Rating:
Summary: Compiler Writing Masterpiece!
Review: I started reading this book (on and off) about 8 months ago. I have not read much beyond chapter 2. But just from the first two chapters alone, I have gained enough know-how to construct a working interpreter!!! I never thought I could write a computer language. But when the need arose to write one, I was surprised how easy it turned out to be, because of the techniques I acquired from this book. Hats off to all the three authors for an incredibly powerful and useful book!!!
Rating:
Summary: I thought the book was easily understandable and thorough...
Review: I took a class during my college career that used this book for the main text. It really was a handy item for me to have, and when I finish school, I plan to read it again and make another compiler for _fun_. Anyway, I thought the book was very helpful, and would recommend it to any newcomer to compilers like I was.
Rating:
Summary: Good introduction to compiler theory
Review: I took a course on compiler design and implementation
and i would say that this book can really introduce
compiler concepts but its very pascal based. Its forgivable considering that the book was written
ages ago before java could gain a foothold. Overall, its a good introductory book.
Rating: 
Summary: Only useful as a reference.
Review: I used this book in an undergraduate course in compiler design and found it overall to be almost useless. This book only makes sense if you already understand compiler design. The authors frequently throw out dozens of terms that they don't bother to define for several hundred pages. With minimal effort they could explain exactly what a symbol-table is used for or at least give some idea before giving an in-depth analysis of issues in symboltable design but instead they inundate the reader in terminology (to scare off the weak-willed I think) and let the explanation appear 250 pages later.
With that said the book does cover alot. It has lots of examples (that are probably the only parts that make sense) and talks about lots of important language specific issues. Going back to it the book is a useful reference. But the parts I didn't learn about still don't make any sense. That's why this book is an okay reference but a miserable learning device.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I was sad to read the negative comments on this book because they could give people who are not familiar with the topic the impression that this is not a great book. This book is still considered the standard text on compiler design, even though it is now 15 years old. It is not, however, a book for the weekend programmer or hobbyist and that could be what disappointed some of the negative reviewers. This is a demanding book but rewards the persistent reader with a thorough grounding in the theory and practice of this complex subject. If you are in the profession of compiler design or a serious student of the subject, assimilating the content of this book is a prerequisite. I work on a team that produces one of the most popular professional C++ compilers. When I joined the team, I asked around for advice on what books to read. The most common response: "If you haven't read the 'dragon book' you better start with that."
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