2005-11-14 #1

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).

META II a syntax-oriented compiler writing language

LINGO, A Dynamic Syntax Directed Compiler

COMFY---A Comfortable Set of Control Primitives for Machine Language Programming

Pliant - language with extensible syntax

x86 assembler written in Scheme - Only tangentially related but still neat.