Re: A Plain English Compiler

"Gerry Rzeppa" <gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com>
Thu, 30 Oct 2014 14:53:57 -0500

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[19 earlier articles]
Re: A Plain English Compiler ak@akkartik.com (Kartik Agaram) (2014-10-27)
Re: A Plain English Compiler kaz@kylheku.com (Kaz Kylheku) (2014-10-27)
Re: A Plain English Compiler ivan@ootbcomp.com (Ivan Godard) (2014-10-27)
Re: A Plain English Compiler martin@gkc.org.uk (Martin Ward) (2014-10-28)
Re: A Plain English Compiler monnier@iro.umontreal.ca (Stefan Monnier) (2014-10-28)
Re: A Plain English Compiler DrDiettrich1@netscape.net (Hans-Peter Diettrich) (2014-10-29)
Re: A Plain English Compiler gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com (Gerry Rzeppa) (2014-10-30)
Re: A Plain English Compiler gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com (Gerry Rzeppa) (2014-10-30)
Re: A Plain English Compiler gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com (Gerry Rzeppa) (2014-10-30)
Re: A Plain English Compiler gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com (Gerry Rzeppa) (2014-10-31)
Re: A Plain English Compiler gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com (Gerry Rzeppa) (2014-10-31)
Re: A Plain English Compiler acolvin@efunct.com (mac) (2014-11-03)
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From: "Gerry Rzeppa" <gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com>
Newsgroups: comp.compilers
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 14:53:57 -0500
Organization: Compilers Central
References: 14-10-005 06-02-122 06-02-125 14-10-006
Keywords: practice
Posted-Date: 30 Oct 2014 17:04:54 EDT

lesliedellow says, I wonder if the OP has a clue how compilers work?


Reply: We obviously know how compilers work having written a reliable,
efficient, and fully functioning one -- for Plain English, coded entirely in
Plain English.


lesliedellow says, If he has, he might want to try his hand at writing a BNF
grammar for English.


Reply: English is a natural language and, as such, cannot be entirely
reduced to a BNF; it must be compiled via a combination of heuristic
techniques. Our particular approach takes three swipes at the source code
using a mixture of recursive-descent parsing and a small collection of ad
hoc super- and sub-parsers. (Write me directly for a copy of the EBNF we use
for the recursive-descent part; it's less than 100 lines.) Note also that
our compiler is designed in such a way that the bulk of the vocabulary and
grammar -- nouns, verbs, adjectives, modes of expression, etc -- are not
hard-coded in the compiler, but are are automatically deduced when the
programmer, in his own source code, defines new types, variables, and
routines; the compiler focuses on that tiny and well-defined portion of
English that serves as glue for the rest: articles, prepositions, and
conjunctions.


See here for our next proposed steps and links to the current documentation,
source code, and executable prototype:


https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-hybrid-programming-language/x/8950932


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