Attribute Grammars for Modular Disambiguation

Abstract

To face the challenges to tomorrow’s software engineering tools, powerful language-generic programtransformation components are needed. We propose the use of Attribute Grammars (AGs) to generate language specific disambiguation filters. In this paper, a complete implementation of a language-independent AG system is presented. As a full scale experiment, we present an implementation of a flexible C front-end. Its specifications are concise, modular, and the result is efficient. On top of it, transformations such as software renovation, code metrics, domain specific language embedding can be implemented