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The Definitive ANTLR Reference: Building Domain-Specific Languages
ANTLR v3 is the most powerful, easy-to-use parser generator
built to date, and represents the culmination of more than
15 years of research by Terence Parr. This book is the
essential reference guide to using this completely rebuilt
version of ANTLR, with its amazing new LL(*) parsing
technology, tree construction facilities,
StringTemplate
code generation template engine, and sophisticated
ANTLRWorks GUI development environment. Learn to use ANTLR
directly from the author!
ANTLR is a parser generator-a program that generates code to
translate a specified input language into a nice, tidy data
structure. You might think that parser generators are only
used to build compilers. But in fact, programmers usually
use parser generators to build translators and interpreters
for domain-specific languages such as proprietary data
formats, common network protocols, text processing
languages, and domain-specific programming languages.
Domain-specific languages are important to software
development because they represent a more natural, high
fidelity, robust, and maintainable means of encoding a
problem than simply writing software in a general-purpose
language. For example, NASA uses domain-specific command
languages for space missions to improve reliability, reduce
risk, reduce cost, and increase the speed of development.
Even the first Apollo guidance control computer from the
1960s used a domain-specific language that supported vector
computations.
This book is the definitive guide to using the completely
rebuilt ANTLR v3 and describes all features in detail,
including the amazing new LL(*) parsing technology, tree
construction facilities, StringTemplate code generation
template engine, and sophisticated ANTLRWorks GUI
development environment. You'll learn all about ANTLR
grammar syntax, resolving grammar ambiguities, parser fault
tolerance and error reporting, embedding actions to
interpret or translate languages, building intermediate-form
trees, extracting information from trees, generating source
code, and how to use the ANTLR Java API.
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