Thread: [Flex/Bison] Some questions

  1. #1
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    [Flex/Bison] Some questions

    Question 1
    So, as I mentioned in my previous thread, I'm trying to make a parser for a made-up programming language. I'm now at the part of the exercise where we're required to make sure the parser's output is a conversion in C of the input.

    So things like...

    Code:
    STARTMAIN a=b+2; return a; ENDMAIN
    ...must become...

    Code:
    int main () { a=b+2; return a; }
    So far so good, almost. The exercise also requires that in the same time, as we convert, we have to add proper indentation and (as I had to learn the hard way last year) newlines.

    The obvious part is that each time a { opens, you increase a counter and then add the appropriate tabs on each new line. However, closing brackets ('}') are a different story as you can't detect them before hand, and once you've parsed them, you can't just put them a tab to the left by removing the last tab printed.

    Is there a solution to this, and/or a consistent way of checking and adding indentation?

    Question 2
    Also, I have tried something like this in my Bison file...

    Code:
    ReturnS: RETURN expression {printf(";")}
    ...but the semicolon gets printed AFTER the next token, past this rule, instead of right after the expression. This rule was made as the original language doesn't require a semicolon after the expression in the return statement, but C does, so I thought I'd add it manually to the output with printf, but that doesn't seem to work, as the semicolon gets added but for some reason, it gets added after the next token is parsed (outside the ReturnS rule) instead of right when the expression rule returns to ReturnS.
    Last edited by Leftos; 08-21-2010 at 03:43 PM.

  2. #2
    Registered User C_ntua's Avatar
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    Haven't read your previous thread, but can't you use a buffer and save some things before you print them?

    This
    Code:
    for (int i = 0; i < counter; ++i) 
      printf("\t");
    is a sample code of how you would indent. Assuming you use something like that, why can't you add a flag like
    [CODE[
    if (NOT_END)
    for (int i = 0; i < counter; ++i)
    printf("\t");
    [/CODE]
    so you don't do this if you are dealing with ENDMAIN style of commands.
    You print the above when you print the expression, not in advance.

    For questions 2 a wild guess is that it is recognizing the whole return statement as RETURN. So like RETURN would be "return val;" for example. Just guessing, not even know Bison/Flex that well

  3. #3
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    Thanks for your input C_ntua. Here's a third question though.

    Question 3
    I'm trying to do something like this in Bison...

    Code:
    loop_for:	FOR var_name COLONEQUALS expression TO {printf("%s<=", $2);} expression STEP {printf("%s+=", $2);} expression {printf(")\n");} Code ENDFOR
    What I'm trying to do is convert a for statement from the fake langugage's syntax to C's. However, the $2 I've used to grab var_name doesn't seem to work as the program crashes when it reaches there. Is $x supposed to work only for integers?

    I even tried adding a union and using char* for a new type, but I still get (null) from the above actions.
    Last edited by Leftos; 08-21-2010 at 04:27 PM.

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