AS, for Abstract Syntax
Manual - V1.0

Thierry Despeyroux
INRIA - Sophia Antipolis
thierry.despeyroux@sophia.inria.fr
http://www.inria.fr/croap/personnel/Thierry.Despeyroux.html

copyright © INRIA 1996

Abstract: This is the manual for AS, an abstract syntax specification formalism. The main features of this formalism are modularity and support for second-order abstract syntaxes. AS is the first formalism from the CLF (Computer Languages Factory), a forthcoming set of tools and specification formalisms for quick prototyping and complete implementation of computer languages syntaxes and semantics. This version of AS may be used under the Centaur system for first-order features only. The second-order features will be useful only when a higher-order version of Typol will be distributed.

• Contents
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Rational
  • 2.1 The Computer Languages Factory
  • 2.2 Abstract Syntax
  • 2.3 Isolating Abstract Syntax from Concrete Syntax
  • 2.4 Modularity
  • 2.5 Second-Order Abstract Syntax
• 3 Tutorial
  • 3.1 Starting with an Example
  • 3.2 Expressions
  • 3.3 Statements
  • 3.4 Lists
  • 3.5 Binders
  • 3.6 Formalism Inclusion
  • 3.7 Formalism Extension
• 4 User's Manual
  • 4.1 Files Naming Convention
  • 4.2 The AS Centaur-Environment
• 5 Reference Manual
  • 5.1 Lexical Elements
  • 5.2 Names
  • 5.3 Typed Names
  • 5.4 Definition of Operators
  • 5.5 Definition of Phyla
  • 5.6 Predefined Types
  • 5.7 Complete Definition of an Abstract Syntax
  • 5.8 Extension of a Formalism
  • 5.9 Effectiveness
  • 5.10 The Complete Concrete Syntax of AS
  • 5.11 The Complete Abstract Syntax of AS
• 6 Errors and Warnings
  • 6.1 Type-Checker Errors and Warnings
  • 6.2 Messages from the AS Centaur-Environment
• 7 Implementation Notes
  • 7.1 Lacks, Bugs and Features
  • 7.2 Type-Checking
  • 7.3 Lisp Code Generation
  • 7.4 Prolog Code Generation
  • 7.5 Files Generation
• References
• Index
• About this document ...