Constructing Language Processors for Little Languages [Paperback]

Randy M. Kaplan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471597546 | ISBN-13: 978-0471597544 | Publication Date: August 15, 1994 | Edition: 1

A step-by-step tutorial to developing a language processor for a ``little language'' which can be used on any platform including DOS. The view is towards applying language processor techniques, using them across diverse languages and providing procedures for designing programming languages. Details how to build a compiler for a little language that you can design, along with numerous examples of code to demonstrate how to implement your own language processor. Disk with interpreter and utilities developed in the book is available separately or in a set.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

A step-by-step tutorial to developing a language processor for a ``little language'' which can be used on any platform including DOS. The view is towards applying language processor techniques, using them across diverse languages and providing procedures for designing programming languages. Details how to build a compiler for a little language that you can design, along with numerous examples of code to demonstrate how to implement your own language processor. Disk with interpreter and utilities developed in the book is available separately or in a set.

Product Details

• Paperback: 452 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (August 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471597546
• ISBN-13: 978-0471597544
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,703,774 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good first step, April 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Constructing Language Processors for Little Languages (Paperback)

This is a good, basic, "gateway" book on compiler and interpreter design and implementation. It can easily provide the reader with the basic concepts of this tricky topic in a way that will allow the reader to move on to more complicated materials.

Having taken a compiler construction class in college using "Compilers : Principles, Techniques, and Tools", I can say that this book is much easier to understand and I wish we had spent the first 2-3 weeks of the course covering the material therein.

If you are new to compiler construction or are interested in producing a simple interpreter, this book is for you. If you already consider yourself well read in compiler technology, this book may be of questionable value.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good (perhaps the best) but not great, May 19, 2002

By 

A Williams "honestpuck" (Neutral Bay, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Constructing Language Processors for Little Languages (Paperback)

Learning how to build good interpreters and compilers is not easy. For a self-taught programmer such as myself it is a hard road with few lights for the path.

Certainly "Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools" (sometimes called the "dragon book") is far too complex for the beginner. You need something else first.

Kaplan has made a good effort, certainly for the beginner at this art I have found nothing better. While Mak's "Writing Compilers and Interpreter's" is in some ways a better book I don't like that he uses a top down parser, rather than a shift-reduce parser and doesn't explain why. Mak also relies too much on C++ and tackles a problem too large (A Pascal compiler)

Kaplan doesn't fall into any of those traps. He explains well all his decisions and uses methods that translate well into almost any language. He also devotes some space to yacc and lex - essential for those of us who want something a little easier than building the entire thing from the ground up. This book does, however, travel a little fast for some. The main failing is that Kaplan chooses a problem (manipulating images) where too much time is spent on things specific to the language and the end tool is not that useful to a lot of people. He also gets too complex too quickly.

This book will reward you with some effort on your part. I'd recommend it for anyone who wants to learn how best to define and build a small language who is prepared to do some work understanding the concepts.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still very relevant and useful in 2007!, October 21, 2007

By 

Steve Wainstead (Jackson Heights, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Constructing Language Processors for Little Languages (Paperback)

I've recently had the need to understand how lex and yacc work. I bought this book probably back in 1999 or so; it's sat on my book shelf ever since, having only gotten about three chapters into it.

Today I pulled it out for kicks, and was delighted to find chapter eight is all about lex and yacc; the first seven chapters lead the reader through the writing of a simple language parser for a language he calls "IML," or Image Manipulation Language. (Think a small database of meta information about a large collection of image files; the language lets you do various manipulations with those files).

Kaplan's writing style is very personal and conversational; the target audience is working programmers. This is always a great combination for programming books. Since the examples are all in standard C, it will be many more years before this book really becomes outdated. Sadly the code examples are on a floppy that comes with the book, so you better have a floppy drive!