The Synthesizer Generator

This book is a detailed account of the Synthesizer Generator, a system for creat ing specialized editors that are customized for editing particular languages. The book is intended for those with an interest in software tools and in methods for building interactive systems. It is a must for people who are using the Syn thesizer Generator to build editors because it provides extensive discussions of how to write editor specifications. The book should also be valuable for people who are building specialized editors "by hand," without using an editor generating tool. The need to manage the development of large software systems is one of the most pressing problems faced by computer programmers. An important aspect of this problem is the design of new tools to aid interactive program develop ment. The Synthesizer Generator permits one to create specialized editors that are tailored for editing a particular language. In program editors built with the Synthesizer Generator, knowledge about the language is used to continuously assess whether a program contains errors and to determine where such errors occur. The information is then displayed on the terminal screen to provide feed back to the programmer as the program is developed and modified.

Klappentext

The Synthesizer Generator: A System for Constructing Language-Based Editors presents a detailed account of the Synthesizer Generator, a system for automating the construction of customized editors for particular languages. The unique feature of the Synthesizer Generator is its use of an immediate-computation paradigm to perform analysis, translation, and error reporting while an object is being edited. With the Synthesizer Generator one can create programming language environments that incrementally parse, type-check, and compile a program as it is interactively developed. The use of the system is not restricted to programming languages; editors for logics, specification languages, and verification languages can be created as well. The specification language of the Synthesizer Generator is based on the attribute-grammar concept, which plays a major role in the way compiler construction is taught today. For this reason, the Synthesizer Generator is ideal for use in course projects and should be of particular interest to those involved in compiler construction. The Synthesizer Generator is also intended for readers with an interest in software tools and methods for building interactive systems. More than just a user guide for the system, the book contains a wealth of material for those building specialized editors "by hand", without using an editor-generating tool; it discusses the issues that motivated the decisions made in the design of the system, as well as a number of the algorithms used in the system's implementation.

Inhalt
1 Introduction.- 1.1 Using Structure Editing to Ensure that Programs Are Syntactically Correct.- 1.2 Using Immediate Computation to Locate Errors in Programs.- 1.3 Using Incremental Code Generation to Support Program Testing.- 1.4 Supporting Program-Development Methodologies.- 1.5 The Need for Incremental Algorithms.- 1.6 Adapting Specifications for Immediate Computation.- 1.7 Generating Language-Based Programming Environments.- 1.8 The Synthesizer Generator.- 2 Demonstration of a Sample Editor.- 3 The Attribute-Grammar Model of Editing.- 4 Specification of a Sample Editor.- 4.1 Abstract Syntax.- 4.2 Attributes and Attribute Equations.- 4.3 Unparsing Schemes.- 4.4 Input Interfaces.- 4.5 Templates and Transformations.- 5 Lists, Optional Elements, and Placeholders.- 5.1 Transient Placeholders.- 5.2 Specifying Lists and Optional Elements in SSL.- 5.3 Sublist Manipulations.- 5.4 Selections of Singleton Sublists Versus Selections of List Elements.- 5.5 Parsing Lists.- 5.6 Attribution Rules for a List's Completing Term and Placeholder Term.- 6 Defining Hybrid Editors with the Synthesizer Generator.- 6.1 Defining a Language's Underlying Abstract Syntax.- 6.2 Integration of Text Editing and Structure Editing.- 6.3 Defining Computed Display Representations.- 6.4 Context-Sensitive Translations and Transformations.- 7 Performing Static Inferences with Attributes.- 7.1 Aggregation and Information-Passing Strategies.- 7.2 Using the Attribution Mechanism to Perform Type Inference.- 8 Practical Advice.- 8.1 How to Begin Developing an Editor.- 8.2 Modular Construction of Editor Specifications.- 8.3 Problems That Frequently Arise.- 9 Generating Code Using Attributes.- 9.1 Approaches to Incremental Recompilation.- 9.2 Incremental Recompilation Using Attributes.- 10 InteractiveProgram Verification.- 10.1 An Introductory Example.- 10.2 Generating Verification Conditions.- 10.3 Checking Proofs of Verification Conditions.- 10.4 Automatic Deductive Capabilities.- 11 The Implementation.- 11.1 Basic Organization of the Implementation.- 11.2 Finiteness of Completing Terms.- 11.3 Generating Copy Rules for Upward Remote Attribute Sets.- 11.4 Deferred Reference Counting.- 12 Incremental Attribute Evaluation for Ordered Attribute Grammars.- 12.1 Greedy Evaluation.- 12.2 Distributed-Control Evaluation.- 12.3 Evaluation of Ordered Attribute Grammars by Visit-Sequence Evaluators.- 12.4 Construction of a Visit-Sequence Evaluator.- 12.5 Incremental Updating by Visit-Sequence-Driven Change Propagation.- 12.6 Optimizations for One-to-One Functions.- 12.7 What to Do When a Grammar Fails the Orderedness Test.- Appendix A Syntax of SSL.- Appendix B Invoking the Synthesizer Generator.- Appendix C Abbreviated List of Editor Commands.- C.1 Getting Into and Out of an Editor.- C.2 Changing the Structural Selection by Traversal of the Abstract Syntax Tree.- C.3 Executing Commands.- C.4 Structural Editing.- C.5 Moving the Object with Respect to the Window.- C.6 Using the Locator.- C.7 Textual Editing.- C.8 Changing the Character Selection by Textual Traversal of the Text Buffer.- C.9 Buffers, Selections, and Files.- C.10 Creating and Deleting Windows.- Appendix D Keyboards, Displays, Window Systems, and Mice.- D.1 Keyboards.- D.2 Displays and Window Systems.- D.3 Mice.