So You Want to Write Your Own Language (2014)

Re:So You Want to Write Your Own Language (2014) by jsymolon on Friday May 19, 2017 @10:55AM (#14376232)

AST = Abstract Syntax Tree.

" ... manipulate AST ... "

Interesting thought, but that's not a property of a language per se but a function of the IDE.

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Re:So You Want to Write Your Own Language (2014) by hashkb on Friday May 19, 2017 @10:59AM (#14376283)

Except for editing lisp, which manipulating the AST directly in code.

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Re:So You Want to Write Your Own Language (2014) by aninhumer on Friday May 19, 2017 @11:23AM (#14376555)

Not really. The AST in lisps is much more obvious, but you're still editing a text serialisation format, and any features that operate on the AST itself are provided by the IDE on top of that.

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Re:So You Want to Write Your Own Language (2014) by TeMPOraL on Friday May 19, 2017 @07:07PM (#14379995)

There is no "concrete" AST that's not a "serialization format". A binary AST is also a serialization of AST.

Lisp source is pretty much as close to AST as you can get while still staying in text-land. That said, experienced Lisp developers often use tools like Paredit mode that let them navigate and edit the code in terms of tree nodes, not characters.

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Re:So You Want to Write Your Own Language (2014) by swsieber on Friday May 19, 2017 @11:30AM (#14376621)

Indeed. Any AST in binary format is going to give version control some trouble since those seem best suited for text formats.

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Re:So You Want to Write Your Own Language (2014) by hashkb on Monday May 22, 2017 @10:18AM (#14393732)

Macros operate on the AST at compile and run time, without any support from the IDE.

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Re:So You Want to Write Your Own Language (2014) by psyc on Friday May 19, 2017 @10:57AM (#14376252)

I am talking about IDEs.

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