How to create pragmatic, lightweight languages
How to create pragmatic, lightweight languages
Learn the process to create DSLs and GPLs
About the Book
This book shows how we can reuse existing libraries and frameworks to create all the ecosystem necessary to support our languages.
The cost of building all the machinery to proper support a language used to be very high. Today with a limited effort we can design a language and obtain:
- a fast parser from a concise grammar definition
- validation and model transformations with very few code
- generate JVM bytecode and get interoperability with other JVM languages
- obtain rich editors with syntax highlighting and autocompletion
We will see how to build all of this and more by defining small components in a smart way. The result will be something solid, complete and understandable.
About the Author
Table of Contents
- Introduction
-
1. Motivation: why do you want to build language tools?
- Why to create a new language?
- Why to invest in tools for languages?
- Summary
-
2. The general plan
- Philosophy
- How the different tools are related
- Technology used for the examples
-
3. The example languages we are going to build
- MiniCalc
- StaMac
- Part I: the basics
-
4. Writing a lexer
- Why using ANTLR?
- The plan
- Configuration
- The Lexer grammar for MiniCalc
- The Lexer grammar for StaMac
- Testing
- Summary
-
5. Writing a parser
- The parser grammar for MiniCalc
- The parser grammar for StaMac
- Testing
- Summary
-
6. Mapping: from the parse-tree to the Abstract Syntax Tree
- General support for the Abstract Syntax Tree
- Defining the metamodel of the Abstract Syntax Tree
- Mapping the parse tree into the Abstract Syntax Tree
- Testing the mapping
- Summary
-
7. Symbol resolution
- Example: reference to a value in Java
- Example: reference to a type in Java
- Example: reference to a method in Java
- Resolving symbols in MiniCalc
- Resolving symbols in StaMac
- Testing the symbol resolution
- Summary
-
8. Typesystem
- Types
- Typesystem rules
- Let’s see the code
- Typesystem for MiniCalc
- Typesystem for StaMac
- Summary
-
9. Validation
- Validation for MiniCalc
- Validation for StaMac
- Summary
- Part II: compiling
-
10. Build an interpreter
- What you need to build an interpreter
- Let’s see the code
- Summary
-
11. Generate JVM bytecode
- The Java Virtual Machine
- The main instructions
- Code
- Summary
-
12. Generate an executable using the LLVM
- What is the LLVM?
- Installing LLVM
- Working with LLVM IR
- Code
- Summary
- Part III: editing support
-
13. Syntax highlighting
- How to write an ANTLR lexer for syntax highlighting
- Strategy
- Kanvas
- Supporting multiple languages
- Summary
-
14. Autocomplete
- Different forms of autocomplete
- How to calculate syntatic options
- How to calculate semantic options
- Code
- Summary
- Acknowledgments
- Next steps
- Notes
The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
Now, this is technically risky for us, since you'll have the book or course files either way. But we're so confident in our products and services, and in our authors and readers, that we're happy to offer a full money back guarantee for everything we sell.
You can only find out how good something is by trying it, and because of our 100% money back guarantee there's literally no risk to do so!
So, there's no reason not to click the Add to Cart button, is there?
See full terms...
Earn $8 on a $10 Purchase, and $16 on a $20 Purchase
We pay 80% royalties on purchases of $7.99 or more, and 80% royalties minus a 50 cent flat fee on purchases between $0.99 and $7.98. You earn $8 on a $10 sale, and $16 on a $20 sale. So, if we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book for $20, you'll earn $80,000.
(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)
In fact, authors have earnedover $13 millionwriting, publishing and selling on Leanpub.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them
