rdp 1.4 is available for ftp

The fourth maintenance release of RDP (version 1.4) is now available via ftp
from cscx.cs.rhbnc.ac.uk (134.219.200.45) in directory /pub/rdp. Get
rdp1_4.zip if you are an MS-DOS user or rdp1_4.tar if you are a Unix user.


The major changes at this release centre around the rewritten support library.
In particular the set module now handles dynamically resizable sets and the
symbol table manager allows multiple tables with arbitrary data. Several RDP
directives have been replaced or deleted to reflect changes in the library.


A fuller list of changes will be found at the end of this message


**** Here follows a thumbnail sketch of RDP ****


RDP - a recursive descent parser generator


RDP compiles attributed LL(1) grammars decorated with C-language semantic
actions into recursive descent compilers. RDP is written in strict ANSI C and
produces strict ANSI C. RDP was developed using Borland C 3.1 on a PC and has
also been built with no problems on Alpha/OSF-1, DECstation/Ultrix, Sun
4/SunOS, Linux and NetBSD 0.9 hosts all using GCC. The definition of strict
ANSI here means compiling with


gcc -Wmissing-prototypes -Wstrict-prototypes -fno-common -Wall -ansi -pedantic


and getting no warning messages.


RDP also compiles with Borland Turbo-C and Microsoft C.


RDP is C++ `clean' i.e. there are no identifiers used that clash with C++
reserved words. RDP generated code has been used with g++ applications, and
compiles with g++ and the Borland C++ (as opposed to ANSI) compiler.


RDP itself and the language processors it generates use standard symbol, set
memeory management, text buffering and scanner modules. The RDP scanner is
programmed by loading tokens into a symbol table at the start of each run.
In principle, the RDP scanner can be used to support runtime extensible
languages, such as user defined operators in Algol-68, although nobody has had
the nerve to try this yet.


RDP produces complete runnable programs with built-in help information and
command line switches that are specified as part of the EBNF file. In this
sense RDP output is far more shrink-wrapped than the usual parser generators
which helps beginning students. RDP generates itself (you mean you use a
parser generator which _isn't_ written in itself?) which is a nice
demonstration of the bootstrapping technique used for porting compilers to new
architectures.


I wrote RDP because in October '94 I started giving a course on compiler
design. I don't think the world needs another course on parsing techniques and
am really interested in code generation for exotic processors, so I tried to
produce a compact parser generator that would enable undergraduates to rip
through the syntax and standard code generation parts of the syllabus in a few
weeks, thus leaving me time to get into the black arts of code scheduling and
optimisation.


What you get.


o A set-handling package that supports dynamically sizable sets.


o A hash-coded symbol table with support for multiple symbol tables,
    nested scope rules and arbitrary user data.


o A standard text buffering package with integrated messaging utilities that
    are used for all communication with the user.


o A set of wrapper functions for the standard C memory allocation routines
    with built in fatal error handling for out of memory errors.


o A programmable high-speed scanner with integrated error handling and
    hooks for macros (RDP is being used to generate assemblers for two novel
    microprocessors in addition to the usual applications of LL(1) parsers).


o The machine generated source for the RDP translator. RDP checks that
    the source grammar is LL(1) and explains exactly why a non-LL(1) grammar
    is unacceptable. RDP does not attempt to rework a grammar by itself.


o The decorated EBNF file describing RDP that was processed by the RDP
    executable to produce its own source code. This is good for boggling
    undergraduate's minds with.


o Decorated EBNF files for the languages Mini and Mini-plus that are used as
    examples in the user manual.


o An EBNF file describing ISO-Pascal which generates a parser for the Pascal
    language (this is still under construction - a working grammar for Pascal
    is included but it is not guaranteed to be ISO standard).


o An EBNF file describing ANSI C which generates a parser for the C programming
    language (this is still under construction).


o Sources, makefiles and Borland 3.1 project files for everything which
    you may use freely on condition that you send copies of any modifications,
    enhancements and ill-conceived changes you might make back to me so that
    I can improve RDP.


o User and library support manuals


What you don't get.


o Tutorial information on parsing and compiling (try Wirth's Algorithms +
    Data Structures = Programs, Chapter 5 or your favourite compiler book).
    Maybe one day there'll be a book by me. In a future release I will include
    the slides and notes from my compilers course.


o Warranties. This code has only just escaped from my personal toolkit.
    I've put a lot of effort into making it fit for others to use, but in
    the very nature of compiler compilers it is hard to test all the angles,
    and the Garbage In - Garbage Out principle holds to the highest degree:
    if you write ill-formed semantic actions you won't find out until you try
    and compile the parser that RDP wrote for you. On the plus side, RDP has
    now been used pretty ferociously by lots of people and has stood up very
    well. It does seem to be pretty stable, and I will continue to respond to
    bug reports.


                                                                          Adrian






** RDP release version 1.40 flyer. Adrian Johnstone 30 January 1995 **


This is the RDP V1.40 release distribution. To install RDP look in the
makefile and ensure that the blocks of options at the top are commented out
correctly for your compiler and operating system. Then type 'make' (or 'nmake'
if you are a Microsoft compiler user) and stand well back.


If you use an ANSI compiler then you should be able to build RDP after you
have uncommented suitable compiler switch options in the makefile. I'd really
like to hear about any problems you have with other MS-DOS or Unix C
compilers.


If you have a non-ANSI compiler, then the only part of the code that might
cause you problems is that several of the data structures use bit fields to
store flags. You can rework the code to use #define'd masks in the traditional
way if you have enough patience.


Further documentation may be found in Postscript form in subdirectory 'rdp_doc'.


I'd like to thank the many people who have tried RDP and sent me encouraging
messages, suggestions for improvements and bug reports, in particular Andy
Betts (previously of UCL, now at Inmos) and my students on course CS347
(Compilers and code generation) at RHUL.


** Improvements in this version include **


NEW FEATURES AND CHANGES


1. The RDP support library has been completely rewritten and now comprises
modules memalloc, scan, scanner, set, symbol and textio.


2. The new symbol table handler allows multiple tables to be declared with
arbitrary user data.


3. A new SYMBOL_TABLE directive allows symbol tables to be specified from
within the EBNF file.


4. The HASH_PRIME and HASH_SIZE directives have been removed since their
functions are subsumed into the new SYMBOL_TABLE feature.


5. The memory allocation routines from module crash have been moved to a new
support module called memalloc.c. A versions of realloc and free have been
added, and the size parameter has been reinstated on calloc.


6. Module scan now contains just the token testing and scanner error routines.
Error messages are generated at run time, significantly reducing the size of
the static data segment.


7. The actual scanner is in module scanner. In a future release the scanner
be written into the parser file by rdp. This version still uses essentially
the old hard wired scanner.


8. A brand new set handling package which supports dynamically sized sets
has been added.


9. The SET_SIZE directive has been deleted as it is no longer needed since
sets can expand to arbitrary size.


10. The `out of tokens' error message has been removed because sets can now
expand dynamically, so you can never run out of token space.


11. The messaging routines from modules scan and crash have been completely
reworked and moved to a module called textio.


12. Support module crash has been deleted.


13. The error message generated by left recursive productions has been enhanced
to print out the chain of productions involved in the left recursion.


14. Parser syntax error messages are now generated at run time, significantly
reducing the size of the string segment in RDP generated parsers.


15. The INTERPRETER directive has been removed, because at V2.00 interpreter
support will be via AST's.


16. Interpreter support (read ahead of the whole file) has been removed from
the scanner.


17. Token names are now of the form T__xxx (i.e. with two consecutive
underscores). The P_yyy primitive tokens are now named T__yyy in preparation
for the new scanner support in version 2.00.


18. A set of library support test routines is provided in subdirectory test.


19. Strings returned from the STRING, STRING_ESC and so on primitives no
longer have a leading header byte. RDP maintains tokens and production names in
separate tables, removing the need for this disambiguation kludge.


20. A simple assembler called nasm4 has been added to the distribution. A paper
describing the target architecture is in rdp_doc.


**** Features for future versions


Version 2.00 will support scanner productions which supersede the various
programmable tokens used at the moment. RDP will then write out a customised
scanner for each language in exactly the same way that it currently writes out
parsers. These generated scanners will look just like the existing scanner
(i.e. they will NOT be DFA based) so that they can be debugged easily. A set
of scanner productions roughly equivalent to the current scanner will be
supplied.


As part of the scanner production support, subproductions comprising a list
of alternates each of which is exactly one terminal long will automatically
be translated into a set of such tokens. NOT and wildcard operators will be
provided.


Version 2.00 will also offer some new grammar writing tools. In particular, I
intend to enhance the < > construct so as to allow specification of maximum
and minimum iteration counts, and redefine all other constructs in terms of
this new mechanism, I also hope to support permutation phrases, as described
in a recent edition of LOPLAS.


There will be some elementary support for the construction of abstract syntax
trees, probably in the form of some semantic action macros that implement
common construction operations. RDP itself will be rewritten using this
standard AST format rather than the mix of special data structures presently
used.


Perhaps at V2.00, you will be able to selectively allow backtracking so
allowing LL(k) grammars to be parsed. If you need this a lot you should be
looking at PCCTS or PRECC not RDP.


Other suggestions for improvements are welcome.


Finally (surprise, surprise) a textbook on code generation for modern
processors, using RDP to construct the compiler front ends, will appear
eventually. Anybody interested in beta-testing the book might like to get in
touch, but we're not expecting to make much progress on it until early Summer
1995.


***
Comments, queries and requests for code to


Smail: Dr Adrian Johnstone, Dean of Science, Computer Science Department,
              Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK.


Email: adrian@dcs.rhbnc.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)1784 443425 Fax: +44 (0)1784 443420


--

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