1 Syntax-Directed Languages {anchor:Syntax-Directed Languages} Syntax-Directed or Syntax-Oriented languages let you manipulate the grammer while a program is being compiled. This lets languages load or manipulate their own syntax. I think that this is an old idea (the first paper below is from 1964!) which is still a good one (unless you use a languages like Forth, Lisp, Smalltalk, etc., which basically have no syntax so never need to extend it). {link:META II a syntax-oriented compiler writing language|http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=808896} {link:LINGO, A Dynamic Syntax Directed Compiler|http://www.slac.stanford.edu/cgi-wrap/getdoc/slac-pub-0198.pdf} {link:COMFY---A Comfortable Set of Control Primitives for Machine Language Programming|http://home.pipeline.com/~hbaker1/sigplannotices/COMFY.TXT} {link:Pliant|http://fullpliant.org/} - language with extensible syntax {link:x86 assembler written in Scheme|http://home.earthlink.net/~krautj/sassy/sassy-Z-H-3.html} - Only tangentially related but still neat. 2006-09-10 18:50:09.721 2005-11-14 14:57:03.362