doc/site/index.html

   1 <html><head><link type="text/css" href="./screen.css" rel="stylesheet" />
   2           <script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type="text/javascript">
   3           </script>
   4           <script type="text/javascript">
   5           _uacct = "UA-3418876-1";
   6           urchinTracker();
   7           </script>
   8         </head><body><div id="top"><div id="main_navigation"><ul><li><a href="syntactic_recognition.html">Documentation</a></li><li><a href="contribute.html">Contribute</a></li><li>Home</li></ul></div></div><div id="middle"><div id="content"><p class="intro_text">
   9
  10 Treetop is a language for describing languages. Combining the elegance of Ruby with cutting-edge <em>parsing expression grammars</em>, it helps you analyze syntax with revolutionarily ease.
  11
  12 </p>
  13
  14 <pre><code>sudo gem install treetop
  15 </code></pre>
  16
  17 <h1>Intuitive Grammar Specifications</h1>
  18
  19 <p>Parsing expression grammars (PEGs) are simple to write and easy to maintain. They are a simple but powerful generalization of regular expressions that are easier to work with than the LALR or LR-1 grammars of traditional parser generators. There's no need for a tokenization phase, and <em>lookahead assertions</em> can be used for a limited degree of context-sensitivity. Here's an extremely simple Treetop grammar that matches a subset of arithmetic, respecting operator precedence:</p>
  20
  21 <pre><code>grammar Arithmetic
  22   rule additive
  23     multitive '+' additive / multitive
  24   end
  25
  26   rule multitive
  27     primary '*' multitive / primary
  28   end
  29
  30   rule primary
  31     '(' additive ')' / number
  32   end
  33
  34   rule number
  35     [1-9] [0-9]*
  36   end
  37 end
  38 </code></pre>
  39
  40 <h1>Syntax-Oriented Programming</h1>
  41
  42 <p>Rather than implementing semantic actions that construct parse trees, Treetop lets you define methods on trees that it constructs for you automatically. You can define these methods directly within the grammar...</p>
  43
  44 <pre><code>grammar Arithmetic
  45   rule additive
  46     multitive '+' additive {
  47       def value
  48         multitive.value + additive.value
  49       end
  50     }
  51     /
  52     multitive
  53   end
  54
  55   # other rules below ...
  56 end
  57 </code></pre>
  58
  59 <p>...or associate rules with classes of nodes you wish your parsers to instantiate upon matching a rule.</p>
  60
  61 <pre><code>grammar Arithmetic
  62   rule additive
  63     multitive '+' additive &lt;AdditiveNode&gt;
  64     /
  65     multitive
  66   end
  67
  68   # other rules below ...
  69 end
  70 </code></pre>
  71
  72 <h1>Reusable, Composable Language Descriptions</h1>
  73
  74 <p>Because PEGs are closed under composition, Treetop grammars can be treated like Ruby modules. You can mix them into one another and override rules with access to the <code>super</code> keyword. You can break large grammars down into coherent units or make your language's syntax modular. This is especially useful if you want other programmers to be able to reuse your work.</p>
  75
  76 <pre><code>grammar RubyWithEmbeddedSQL
  77   include SQL
  78
  79   rule string
  80     quote sql_expression quote / super
  81   end
  82 end
  83 </code></pre>
  84
  85 <h1>Acknowledgements</h1>
  86
  87 <p><a href="http://pivotallabs.com"><img id="pivotal_logo" src="./images/pivotal.gif"></a></p>
  88
  89 <p>First, thank you to my employer Rob Mee of <a href="http://pivotallabs.com"/>Pivotal Labs</a> for funding a substantial portion of Treetop's development. He gets it.</p>
  90
  91 <p>I'd also like to thank:</p>
  92
  93 <ul>
  94 <li>Damon McCormick for several hours of pair programming.</li>
  95 <li>Nick Kallen for lots of well-considered feedback and a few afternoons of programming.</li>
  96 <li>Brian Takita for a night of pair programming.</li>
  97 <li>Eliot Miranda for urging me rewrite as a compiler right away rather than putting it off.</li>
  98 <li>Ryan Davis and Eric Hodel for hurting my code.</li>
  99 <li>Dav Yaginuma for kicking me into action on my idea.</li>
 100 <li>Bryan Ford for his seminal work on Packrat Parsers.</li>
 101 <li>The editors of Lambda the Ultimate, where I discovered parsing expression grammars.</li>
 102 </ul></div></div><div id="bottom"></div></body></html>