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A Mixed Approach for Building Extensible Parsers

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Programming Languages (SBLP 2014)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 8771))

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Abstract

For languages whose syntax is fixed, parsers are usually built with a static structure. The implementation of features like macro mechanisms or extensible languages requires the use of parsers that may be dynamically extended. In this work, we discuss a mixed approach for building efficient top-down dynamically extensible parsers. Our view is based on the fact that a large part of the parser code can be statically compiled and only the parts that are dynamic should be interpreted for a more efficient processing. We propose the generation of code for the base parser, in which hooks are included to allow efficient extension of the underlying grammar and activation of a grammar interpreter whenever it is necessary to use an extended syntax. As a proof of concept, we present a prototype implementation of a parser generator using Adaptable Parsing Expression Grammars (APEG) as the underlying method for syntax definition. We show that APEG has features which allow an efficient implementation using the proposed mixed approach.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Computação e Sistemas, Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, João Monlevade, Brazil

    Leonardo Vieira dos Santos Reis

  2. Departamento de Informática, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil

    Vladimir Oliveira Di Iorio

  3. Departamento de Ciência da Computação, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Roberto S. Bigonha

Authors
  1. Leonardo Vieira dos Santos Reis
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  2. Vladimir Oliveira Di Iorio
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  3. Roberto S. Bigonha
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciência da Computação, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos, 6627 31.270-010,, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

    Fernando Magno Quintão Pereira

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dos Santos Reis, L.V., Di Iorio, V.O., Bigonha, R.S. (2014). A Mixed Approach for Building Extensible Parsers. In: Quintão Pereira, F.M. (eds) Programming Languages. SBLP 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8771. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11863-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11863-5_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-11862-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-11863-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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