Syntax-directed compiling

Abstract

This paper is primarily concerned with the analysis of source statements in a programming language, although some of the ideas and techniques may be applicable to the analysis of source statements in a natural language. We are particularly concerned with those techniques which might be classed as predictive; the companion paper by Graham is concerned with other ("nonpredictive") techniques of analysis. Very broadly the techniques we will discuss operate as follows: Given a set of rules (Syntax Specification) for forming allowable constructs, eventually resulting in a statement (or sentence, word, program, etc.) of a language, we analyze a source statement in that language by guessing, or predicting, how the statement is constructed and either verifying that this is the case or backing up to try again, assuming some other method of construction. We keep a "history" of our attempts and when we have determined the exact way in which the statement is constructed we can use this "history" of its construction for further processing of the components of the statement.