Re: Syntax directed program editing

In article 92-02-033 carroll@cis.udel.edu writes:
>In general, people don't want [syntax editors].
>Editors are the kind of program that should be very unobtrusive. The
>editor shouldn't interfere with your ability to get your work done. You
>sit down to program, you want to keep your thoughts focused on the
>program, not on the editing process. In this context, syntax directed
>editors seem to be very natural, because they take so much of the burden
>of work editing away. Unfortunately, reality is slightly different - if
>you have a different syntax directed editor for each language, then you're
>suddenly obligated to know a collection of different editors, and you've
>got to always remember which one you're using when you go to make a change.


I can recommend the work done on this by CWI in Amsterdam. Their
ASF/SDF system, although actually designed as a syntax development
system, has the best general syntax-directed editor I've ever seen.
Enter the grammar (any context-free grammar) in one window, and it
will pop up another window with an SDE for that language. You can use
it as a general editor---it doesn't restrict you to forms in the
language---or you can use the mouse interface to do syntax-related
things (enter a non-terminal, expand it, choose expansions, etc). When
you've finished, it works out which bits of the abstract syntax tree
have changed (and can presumably pass this information on to the rest
of a compiler). For more information, I guess you should mail Pum,
whose surname I've forgotten, who is pum@cwi.nl


Nick Haines nickh@cs.cmu.edu


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