This is an implementation of Val Schorre's Meta II language, written in Common Lisp. Meta II is a compiler-writing language for syntax-directed translation, expressed in a syntax similar to BNF rules that are annotated to produce code in the target language. The code here is a virtual machine for the target language. The Meta II compiler can itself be written in Meta II.
Schorre, D.V., 1964. Meta II: a Syntax-oriented Compiler Writing Language. In Proceedings of the 1964 19th ACM national conference (pp. D1.3-1 -- D1.3-11).
Other useful references:
- Online version of the Schorre paper
- James Neighbors extremely detailed explication of Meta II: metacompiler tutorial
- Wikipedia page on Meta II
| File | Contents |
|---|---|
| metaii.lisp | The virtual machine in Common Lisp |
| aexp.masm | James Neighbors algebraic expression syntax, compiled by Meta II |
| metaii.meta | The Meta II interpreter in Meta II |
| metaii.masm | The Meta II interpreter, compiled by Meta II |
- A simple example (from James Neighbors) of an algebraic expression language:
(run (build-instructions (parse-file "aexp.meta"))
"fern:=5+6;ace:=fern*5;waldo:=fern+alpha/-beta^gamma;")- Compiling the Meta II compiler.
(run (build-instructions (parse-file "metaii.meta"))
(file-as-string "metaii.meta"))- Compiling the Meta II compiler using the compiled Meta II compiler.
(run (build-instructions (parse-file "metaii.masm"))
(convert-single-to-double (file-as-string "metaii.meta")))