Syntax Definition for Language Prototyping

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Eelco Visser

ISBN 90-74795-75-7
University of Amsterdam
1997

Language prototyping is the activity of designing and testing definitions of new or existing computer languages. An important aspect of a language definition is the definition of its syntax. The subject of this thesis are new formalisms and techniques that support the development and prototyping of syntax definitions. There are four main subjects: (1) Techniques for parsing and disambiguation of context-free languages. (2) Design and implementation of a new syntax definition formalism. (3) Design of a multi-level algebraic specification formalism. (4) Study of polymorphic syntax definition.

Contents

1   Introduction
2   Specification in ASF+SDF

I   Context-Free Parsing Techniques

3   Scannerless Generalized-LR Parsing
4   Disambiguation Filters
5   A Case Study in Optimizing Parsing Schemata
    by Disambiguation Filters

II  Context-Free Syntax Definition

6   A Family of Syntax Definition Formalisms
7   Context-Free Grammars
8   Disambiguation and Abbreviation
9   Renaming and Modularization
10  The Syntax Definition Formalism SDF2

III Multi-Level Algebraic Specification

11  Extensions of First-Order Specification
12  Untyped and Simply Typed Specifications
13  Examples of Multi-Level Specifications
14  Definition of Multi-Level Specifications

IV  Polymorphic Syntax Definition

15  Polymorphic Syntax Definition

V   Epilogue

16  Concluding Remarks

VI  Appendices

A   Auxiliary Modules for the Specification of SDF2
B   Auxiliary Modules for Multi-Level Specifications
C   Samenvatting
D   Bibliography

Some quotes

Grant

The research for my thesis was supported by NWO/SION grant 612-317-420: Incremental parser generation and context-sensitive disambiguation: a multi-disciplinary perspective.

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