[antlr-interest] Full C# port of ANTLR, also updated Visual Studio support

Sam Harwell sharwell at pixelminegames.com
Mon Nov 17 08:35:31 PST 2008


Now that I have the ANTLR tool using full V3 grammars, I tied the tool
grammars directly into the Visual Studio language service. The previous
build of our language service reported syntax errors in some valid
grammars (including the ANTLR tool grammars themselves). This build
fixes those issues.

 

Also, I've posted a 7-zip (http://www.7-zip.org) archive containing only
the C# port of the Tool and its required StringTemplate and Runtime
dlls.

 

The current preview of our Visual Studio support and the binaries are
available on our site:

http://wiki.pixelminegames.com/index.php?title=Tools:nFringe:Antlr:Relea
ses

 

Here is a Q&A regarding the new ports.

 

Are there any differences between this port and the Java package for the
Tool?

Functionally, there should be few to no differences. The command line
parameters should work the same as before, and any variation from this
should be reported as a bug. Under the hood, there is one very big
change. This build of the Tool and StringTemplate library were generated
entirely from ANTLR 3 grammars. The Java version of these items use
primarily ANTLR 2 grammars. The ANTLR 2 grammars are known to be stable,
and will likely be used for a while until we can verify the
functionality of the ANTLR 3 grammars across a wide range of usages.
Then we'll have to port these grammars back from C# to Java (which
really isn't the hard part).

 

What are the requirements to use these tools?

To use the C# port of the ANTLR 3 Tool, you need the following:

*         .NET Framework 3.5 SP1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ab99342f-5d1a-4
13d-8319-81da479ab0d7&displaylang=en

*         Visual J# Runtime:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=f72c74b3-ed0e-4
af8-ae63-2f0e42501be1&displaylang=en

 

To use the Visual Studio integration, please see the following page for
additional requirements:
http://wiki.pixelminegames.com/index.php?title=Tools:nFringe:Antlr

 

This download includes "Antlr.Runtime.dll", and my grammar uses the
CSharp or CSharp2 target. Can I use this runtime?

No. This dll is only compatible with the unofficial CSharp3 target, and
is not licensed for distribution. You should continue using your current
target and runtime until we release the new target under an appropriate
license.

 

This download includes "Antlr3.StringTemplate.dll". Can I use it as my
StringTemplate runtime?

Not at this time. The C# port of the Tool depends on StringTemplate
support and uses this file. We will license this library for general use
at a later time.

 

Can this port of the Tool build grammars for other targets like Java, C,
etc.?

Yes. All targets should be updated. Let me know if there are any issues.

 

Is the source code for the Tool available?

We will release the source for the C# ports of the Tool, StringTemplate,
and the CSharp3 runtime under a BSD license as soon as possible. The
extra features such as full Visual Studio support, debugging, etc., will
be under a separate license. Among other things, we are working to
complete the following before releasing the code:

*         Verify proper functionality of runtime features including
debugging in the new Runtime library.

*         Clean up the code and remove dependence on the J# runtime.

*         Provide a mechanism for adding/removing/editing the supported
runtimes without forcing a rebuild of the Tool itself. Currently, the
.stg templates for all of the runtime libraries are embedded in the
executable.

 

Thank you,

Sam Harwell

nFringe Project Lead

Pixel Mine, Inc.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.antlr.org/pipermail/antlr-interest/attachments/20081117/f64a256d/attachment.html 


More information about the antlr-interest mailing list