Re: Code generation tool

"Doru-Catalin" == Doru-Catalin Togea <doru-cat@student.matnat.uio.no> writes:


Doru-Catalin> I wonder what tools do the CORBA, ICE and the like
Doru-Catalin> compilers use to translate from their respective IDLs to
Doru-Catalin> other languages, like C++, Java, Python, and so forth.


Since you asked about IDL compilers specifically, you might be interested in
"Flick," the Flexible IDL Compiler Kit from the University of Utah:


<http://www.cs.utah.edu/flux/flick/>


Its intermediate representations are exposed and well documented. The
different phases of the compiler are strongly separated --- into separate
programs, in fact! The phases of the compiler communicate through files.


Caveats and disclaimers: I don't claim that Flick is typical of IDL compilers
in general. In many ways, Flick is atypical. Flick hasn't been updated in a
long time. It has back ends for C and C++ only. I was one of the primary
authors of Flick.


Doru-Catalin> I need a formalized description of what the output
Doru-Catalin> (translation) of parsing a structured text (not XML)
Doru-Catalin> should be.


I'm not sure what you're asking for.


Most translation tools aren't derived from formal models, at least not
end-to-end. Compilers have intermediate representations (IRs), certainly, but
the actual translation from one IR to another is ususally "specified" in an ad
hoc manner. More plainly, the model of the translation --- such as it is ---
is the code, period.


There are counter-examples, of course, and I'm sure that other readers of this
forum will mention some of them :-). But at least, I'm not aware of any
counter-examples that are IDL compilers.


Maybe I'm over-analyzing your question --- maybe you just want to see some
example IRs? If so, check out Flick.


Eric.


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Eric Eide <eeide@cs.utah.edu> . University of Utah School of Computing
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