Extending Languages by Leveraging Compilers: From Modelica to Optimica

Constructing compilers using ordinary object-oriented programming takes advantage of parser generators to construct abstract syntax trees (ASTs) and uses the Visitor design pattern to program traversals that resolve names and types and to generate code. Although this plain approach allows some reuse and modularization, it´s possible to go much further by combining object orientation with recent advances in at tribute grammars to build highly extensible compilers.