writing a symbolic interpreter

I am interested in writing a symbolic parser/interpreter for
mathematical expressions. For instance, the program should
be able to handle simple symbolic statements and loops of
the sort:


--- sample input file ----------
r := sqrt(x^2 + y^2);
x := r*cos(t);
y := r*sin(t);


for (i=0; i<5; i++) {
        x := r*cos(i*t);
        y := r*sin(i*t);
        print x, y;
}
--------------------------------


and produce the output:


r*cos(0*t), r*sin(0*t)
r*cos(1*t), r*sin(1*t)
r*cos(2*t), r*sin(2*t)
r*cos(3*t), r*sin(3*t)
r*cos(4*t), r*sin(4*t)


I am pretty comfortable with programming in C and using lex and yacc.
I know how to write a numerical interpreter, as in a multi-function
calculator.


I have some ideas about how to go about writing a symbolic interpreter
but I can use some help to put me on the right track.


I would appreciate any advice and suggestions that you may have,
such as books, web site, free software, etc.


--
Rouben Rostamian

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