A*: a language for implementing language processors

Author

Ladd, D.A. ; Ramming, J.C.

Author_Institution

AT&T Bell Labs., Naperville, IL, USA

fYear

1994

fDate

16-19 May 1994

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

10

Abstract

A* is an experimental language designed to facilitate the creation of language-processing tools. It is analogous either to an interpreted yacc with Awk as its statement language, or to a version of Awk which processes programs rather than records. A* offers two principal advantages over the combination of lex, yacc, and C: a high-level interpreted base language and built-in parse tree construction. A* programmers are thus able to accomplish many useful tasks with little code. This paper describes the motivation for A*, its design, and its evolution. Experience with A* is described, and then the paper concludes with an analysis of A*´s principal weaknesses

Keywords

high level languages; program interpreters; program processors; programming languages; software tools; A*; Awk; C; built-in parse tree construction; experimental language; high-level interpreted base language; interpreted yacc; language processors; language-processing tools; lex; statement language; Buildings; Computer languages; Humans; Printers; Program processors; Programming profession; Prototypes; Software engineering; Synthesizers; Writing;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Computer Languages, 1994., Proceedings of the 1994 International Conference on

Conference_Location

Toulouse

Print_ISBN

0-8186-5640-X

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICCL.1994.288398

Filename

288398