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I want to implement a simple language translator (a superset of C++),
but I haven't done anything of this kind since college (a couple
decades ago). I would like to use python tools as much as possible.<br>
<br>
<tt>NICL code</tt> -> [C++ preprocessor (gcc)] -> <font
color="#993399">[NICL translator]</font> -> [C++ compiler (gcc)]
-> <tt>object code</tt><br>
<br>
The translator needs to be able to parse special non-c++ syntax to
generate c++, and leave other code intact.<br>
<br>
More documentation on my project here:<br>
<a
href="http://www.seehart.com/neuralintegrator.com/documentation/ni_book/defining_cell_types.st">http://www.seehart.com/neuralintegrator.com/documentation/ni_book/defining_cell_types.st</a><br>
<br>
I could almost get by with just a python script using regular
expressions (my grammar is simple enough), but I need to know a certain
amount of contextual information. E.g., if I am parsing "cellclass
mycell { ... }", the contents between the braces must be processed
accordingly. This means I have to know when I reach the closing brace
(which I can't do with regular expressions). However, I'm sure I could
do a prototype this way, using the assumption that the a closing brace
on a class matches "^};", but that would be just plain sloppy :-)<br>
<br>
So I think one way or another I'm stuck with implementing an LALR
parser.<br>
<br>
I'm wondering if there is anyone in this community with experience
doing this kind of thing.<br>
<br>
- Ken Seehart<br>
<br>
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