Writing a symbol table in Perl

I need to write a program that will perform semantics checking on a
java program, (i.e type checking,scope checking , method
invocation,uniqueness checking etc ). I can assume the input to the
program will be a lexically and syntactically correct program.
      I am considering writing it in Perl, I believe that perl could
analyse the text of the program fairly quickly, implement a
(reasonably) efficient symbol table, and through pattern matching
perform all the necessary checks.
Does anyone see any immediate problems with this , Has anyone done it
before, or does anyone have any opinions on it.
      All input will be gratefully accepted
                          Des Traynor
[Doing symbol tables in perl is really easy. A straightforward way is to
make the symbol table a perl table indexed by symbol name, and the values
pointers to either tables or arrays with the symbol's info. -John]

Return to the comp.compilers page.
Search the comp.compilers archives again.