Templating tool

[Steve Horne]

I have written a C++ program which translates a template file to
python and then calls the interpreter to run it. The templates can
look a bit like the following...


print """
This is some simple text      --  Basic text

2 * 2 = <* 2 * 2 *>           --  Calc result substituted

<** times 5
hello                         --  This line printed 5 times
**>

<** if a == b
hello                         --  This line printed only if a == b
**>

<** for i in [1, 2, 3]
line <* i *>                  --  This line printed three times
**>

<** for i in [1, 2, 3] if i != 2
line <* i *>                  --  This line printed two times
**>
"""

Special markers <*, *>, <** and **> are only interpreted within triple
quoted strings. Block structures (<** and **>) can be nested to any
depth.

As an example, you could write...

print """
<** for i in range (1, 3)
<** for j in range (1, 3)
<* i *> times <* j *> equals <* i * j *>
**>
**>
"""

and the output would be...

1 times 1 equals 1
1 times 2 equals 2
2 times 1 equals 2
2 times 2 equals 4


I assume this is similar to the way ASP works. I personally use it to
generate C++ code which is too complex for C++ templates or macros to
handle. For example, I have a template to generate scanner code, which
uses ternary search trees to specify the keywords.

So the question is, would anyone else find this useful?

-- 
Steve Horne
sh at ttsoftware.co.uk