All software developers use languages – it’s the fundamental tool of the trade. Yet despite widespread curiosity about how languages work, few developers actually learn how they work. For one thing, most texts on language and compiler development are highly academic and theoretical tomes intended for use in college level computer science programs. This is a shame, because the techniques used to make a language work have widespread applications in general programming.
This book takes the mystery out of compiler and language development and makes it accessible to every programmer. Ruthlessly practical, this book teaches fundamental techniques that programmers can use in their every day work.
Developers will learn how to:
- add scripts and macro languages to their applications,
- generate code «on the fly»,
- add runtime expression evaluation to their applications
- understand parsing techniques – essential for extracting information from any structured form of data ranging from text files to user input to XML or HTML.
As a unique added bonus, this book includes a complete QuickBasic compatible compiler with source code. Not only does this illustrate the techniques taught in the book, it provides a great new .NET language ideal for teaching kids, simple scripting, or just for fun.