Compiler-compiler: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:47, 4 December 2024

Revision as of 08:49, 4 December 2024

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In 1968–1970, Erwin Book, Dewey Val Schorre, and Steven J. Sherman developed CWIC.<ref name="CWIC" /> (Compiler for Writing and Implementing Compilers) at [[System Development Corporation]] [http://special.lib.umn.edu/findaid/xml/cbi00090-098.xml#series6 Charles Babbage Institute Center for the History of Information Technology (Box 12, folder 21)],

CWIC is a compiler development system composed of three special-purpose, ___domain specific, languages, each intended to permit the description of certain aspects of translation in a straight forward manner. The syntax language is used to describe the recognition of source text and the construction from it to an intermediate [[Tree (data structure)|tree]] structure. The generator language is used to describe the transformation of the [[Tree (data structure)|tree]] into appropriate object language.

The syntax language follows Dewey Val Schorre's previous line of metacompilers. It most resembles TREE-META having [[Tree (data structure)|tree]] building operators in the syntax language. The unparse rules of TREE-META are extended to work with the object based generator language based on [[LISP 2]].

CWIC includes three languages:

* '''Syntax''': Transforms the source program input, into list structures using grammar transformation formula. A parsed expression structure is passed to a generator by placement of a generator call in a rule. A [[Tree (data structure)|tree]] is represented by a list whose first element is a node object. The language has operators, '''<''' and '''>''', specifically for making lists. The colon ''':''' operator is used to create node objects. ''':ADD''' creates an ADD node. The exclamation '''!''' operator combines a number of parsed entries with a node to make a [[Tree (data structure)|tree]] . Trees created by syntax rules are passed to generator functions, returning success or failure. The syntax language is very close to TREE-META. Both use a colon to create a node. CWIC's [[Tree (data structure)|tree]] building exclamation !<number> functions the same as TREE-META's [<number>].

* '''Generator''': a named series of transforming rules, each consisting of an unparse, pattern matching, rule. and an output production written in a LISP 2 like language. the translation was to IBM 360 binary machine code. Other facilities of the generator language generalized output.<ref name="CWIC" />

* '''[[MOL-360]]''': an independent [[system programming language|mid level implementation language]] for the IBM System/360 family of computers developed in 1968 and used for writing the underlying support library.