NAME ^

TGE - A tree grammar engine.

SYNOPSIS ^

    # define a grammar leaf.tg
    transform min (Leaf) :language('PIR') { 
        $P1 = getattribute node, "value"
        .return ($P1)
    }
    ...
    # and elsewhere...

    .sub _main :main
        load_bytecode 'TGE.pir'

        # Compile a grammar from the source grammar file
        .local pmc compiler
        compiler = new 'TGE::Compiler'

        .local pmc grammar
        grammar = compiler.'compile'(source)

        .local pmc tree
        # ... the tree to be manipulated

        # Apply the grammar to the tree
        .local pmc TGI
        TGI = grammar.apply(tree)

        # Return the result of a particular rule on a particular tree
        .local pmc result
        result = TGI.get('min')
        # ...
    .end

DESCRIPTION ^

TGE is a tool for transforming trees. Think of it as a good old-fashioned substitution, but instead of taking and returning strings, it takes and returns trees.

TGE is most heavily used in the compiler tools suite, where it transforms the trees output by PGE into abstract syntax trees.

TGE has both a procedural interface and a syntax interface. The syntax interface is easiest for humans to use when constructing grammars by hand. The procedural interface is preferable for computer generated grammars.

This is the syntax for tree grammar rules:

    transform name (pattern) {
        # action
    }

The name is the name of the transform rule. The pattern is the type of node this particular transform applies to. You can have multiple transforms with the same name, as long as they match different patterns. The action is a block of code that executes the transform. You can specify what language the action code is written in with the :language modifier. At the moment, the only valid language is PIR. Within the block, two parameters are supplied for you: node is the current node considered, and tree is the top-level node for the entire tree.

The :applyto modifier says which node the transform applies to.

    transform name (pattern) :applyto('childname') {
        # action
    }

By default the transform applies to the current node (generally synthesized attributes), but you can specify the name of a child node if the transform applies to a child of the current node (generally inherited attributes).

AUTHOR ^

Allison Randal <allison@perl.org>


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