Book Image

Build Your Own Programming Language - Second Edition

By : Clinton L. Jeffery
Book Image

Build Your Own Programming Language - Second Edition

By: Clinton L. Jeffery

Overview of this book

There are many reasons to build a programming language: out of necessity, as a learning exercise, or just for fun. Whatever your reasons, this book gives you the tools to succeed. You’ll build the frontend of a compiler for your language and generate a lexical analyzer and parser using Lex and YACC tools. Then you’ll explore a series of syntax tree traversals before looking at code generation for a bytecode virtual machine or native code. In this edition, a new chapter has been added to assist you in comprehending the nuances and distinctions between preprocessors and transpilers. Code examples have been modernized, expanded, and rigorously tested, and all content has undergone thorough refreshing. You’ll learn to implement code generation techniques using practical examples, including the Unicon Preprocessor and transpiling Jzero code to Unicon. You'll move to domain-specific language features and learn to create them as built-in operators and functions. You’ll also cover garbage collection. Dr. Jeffery’s experiences building the Unicon language are used to add context to the concepts, and relevant examples are provided in both Unicon and Java so that you can follow along in your language of choice. By the end of this book, you'll be able to build and deploy your own domain-specific language.
Table of Contents (27 chapters)
1
Section I: Programming Language Frontends
7
Section II: Syntax Tree Traversals
13
Section III: Code Generation and Runtime Systems
22
Section IV: Appendix
23
Answers
24
Other Books You May Enjoy
25
Index

Comparing bytecode assembler with binary formats

Bytecode machines tend to use simpler formats than native code, where binary object files are the norm. Some bytecode machines, such as Python, hide their bytecode format entirely or make it optional. Others, such as Unicon, use a human-readable assembler-like text format for compiled modules. In the case of Java, they seem to have gone out of their way to avoid providing an assembler, to make it more difficult for other languages to generate code for the Java virtual machine (VM).

In the case of Jzero and its machine, space limits motivate us to keep things as simple as possible. The byc class defines two output methods: print() for human-friendly text format and printb() for machine-friendly binary format. You can decide for yourself which one you prefer for any given application.

Printing bytecode in assembler format

The print() method in the byc class is similar to the one used in the tac class. One line of output is...