[antlr-interest] Re: Stuff I don't like about ANTLR 2.x /ANTLR 3 wants

[oliver_kellogg]

I strongly second these wishes, and I look forward
to the day when we can maintain just _one_ grammar
independent of the codegen target language.

>>From the Ada grammar perspective, there is one
prominent issue that needs resolving. The "." vs "->"
notation for access to members in Java vs C++.
Even a primitive solution, such as adding preprocessor
directives to the action parts (like #ifdef JAVA or 
#ifdef CPLUSPLUS), would help!

Just my EUR 0.02

Oliver

On Tue Mar 16, 2004  2:05 am, "lgcraymer" wrote:
> --- In antlr-interest at yahoogroups.com, "Richard Matthias" 
<richard at e...> wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > 1. The syntax for manual tree building. It looks an absolute mess 
with all
> > those # and [] marks. I assume this is because it sits in with 
action code in
> > the target language and you have to use syntax that won't clash 
with any
> > language known to man. Because tree building is free it only 
increases the
> > impact of the tree building syntax obscurity for occasional ANTLR 
users like
> > myself. What I would like to see is some simple ANTLR specific 
syntax for
> > tree building that exists outside the actions block.
> 
> That's coming in 2.8.  I've got the modified C++ backend to compile 
(half the problem) and just need to get my test cases to run (they 
> work with Java).  Once that happens, I'll update my code to the 
match 2.7.3 final (pending) and a release should follow soon after.
> 
> > 
> > 2. Different syntax for manipulating tokens in Lexer actions 
compared to
> > manipulation of AST nodes in Parser actions. For example, in the 
Parser I can
> > change the AST node class from "within ANTLR syntax", but I still 
have to use
> > action code to change the node to use an 'imaginary' token. For 
example:-
> 
> Ter, Monty, and I briefly discussed adding an attribute (language 
independent AST specification) syntax in ANTLR 3 at the cabal.  It 
> may happen.
> 
> [...]




 
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