CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cparsingyacclex
rid
rid

Reputation: 63442

Parsing source code

I need to parse the source code of different files, each written in a different language, and I would like to do this using C.

To do that, I was thinking of using yacc / lex, but I find them very hard to understand, maybe due to the complete lack of decent documentation (either that, or they really are cryptic).

So my questions are: where can I find some good documentation for yacc / lex, preferably a tutorial style introduction? Or, is there any better way to do this in C? Maybe there's something else I could use instead of yacc / lex, perhaps even written in a different language?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 3283

Answers (3)

cardiff space man
cardiff space man

Reputation: 1526

If you like math (the most important clause in this answer), then write your own compiler-compiler, and then write your compiler with that. I did this once because I was getting bored of writing all the functions for all the productions of a compiler which I had started as a recursive-descent compiler, because the available choices in 2004 didn't please me, and because I had free time while job-hunting. I only used the compiler compiler on the one project, and it is not necessarily thoroughly tested, so it is not on github. I was very happy with the grammar file syntax that I devised.

If I had such a need today I might make a different decision. The newer cutting-edge CC's seem to have have changed a lot in the last 8 years.

Upvotes: 0

luser droog
luser droog

Reputation: 19484

The second half of Kernighan and Pike's The Unix Programming Environment is an extended introduction to programming an interpreter with lex and yacc. The lex coverage is a little light, as they mostly use a custom scanner.

Upvotes: 1

Anders Abel
Anders Abel

Reputation: 69250

yacc and lex are very powerful tools, built around the theories for compiler construction. To be able to fully understand them you probably need some basics in formal languages, automata theory and compiler construction.

The dragon book is a classic on the subject.

Upvotes: 5

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