Compiler tools

Mork exists in a universe of other compiler tools, all of them with different approaches, capabilties and strengths. This page positions Mork in this world of tools. The page is restricted to non-commercial compiler tools, mainly those for Java. For every tools or category of tools, I try to list the main strength's and weaknesses compared to the Morks respective. Send we an email if you miss an argument!

Lex & Yacc like tools

Lex & Yacc are the classic compiler tools.

JLex - A Lexical Analyzer Generator for Java.

JLex is Lex for Java.

JFlex - A Lexical Analyzer Generator for Java.

Improved JLex.

CUP - LALR parser generator for Java.

Yacc for Java.

pros vs. Mork

• classic approach
• well-proven
• well-known (and widely used for teaching)
• simple concept, simple implementation
• available for many languages and platforms

cons vs. Mork

• mapping is difficult
• two separate tools that have to be adjusted to each other
• simple syntax specification only (e.g. no "*" for lists)
• 1 attribute per symbol only, no inherited attributes
• access to local attributes only
• embedded code - which becomes difficult if it contains errors

Top-down parser tools

JavaCC - The Java Parser Generator.

Maybe the first Java parser generator.

ANTLR - ANother Tool for Language Recognition.

Java-rewrite of PCCTS.

pros vs. Mork

• streigt-forward approach for parser generation. Grammar conflict easier to understand than with bottom-up-tools like Mork. Ideal if you want to hack the generated code.

cons vs. Mork

• mapping is difficult
• fixed order of attribute computation
• access to local attributes only
• spec files are very technical

Attribute Grammar systems

These are monster tools.

Eli - Compiler tool set.

FNC-2 - Compiler tool set.

pros vs. Mork

• huge feature set
• powerfull attribution

cons vs. Mork

• mapping is difficult
• quite a lot of specification languages to learn

XML Parser

Xerces - Apache XML parser.

This might be the most popular XML parser.

pros vs. Mork

• mapping into DOM trees
• mature code, fast

cons vs. Mork

• mapping to user-defined classes is difficult
• if you distribute your application: Mork is smaller than Xerces

XML Mapping tools

Castor - An open source data binding framework for Java.

pros vs. Mork

• maps objects into XML documents, SQL, etc.

cons vs. Mork

• TODO, I have not used it.
• mapping is not statically checked for type errors
• access to remote attributes

SableCC

SableCC - An object-oriented framework that generates compilers (and interpreters) in the Java programming language.

pros vs. Mork

• more mature than Mork

cons vs. Mork

• it's difficult to implement (e.g.) an interpreter by visitor classes. Mapping into user-defined classes is more approriate.

Other

Coco - ?.

Coco/R is a compiler generator which takes a compiler description in the form of an LL(1) attributed grammar and generates the scanner and the parser of the described parser.