Program Creates Code to Parse Text
TBMG-7332
05/01/2001
- Content
Saxj is a computer program that facilitates the development of programs that parse textual input in the Java programming language. Saxj is a parser generator that creates static Java parsers in the same sense in which YACC, Bison, and YACC++ are static parser generators that create static C-language parsers. Saxj creates Java object-oriented parsers on the basis of grammar specifications. Saxj uses an algorithm of the "look-ahead 1 token, look right" [LALR(1)] type to convert a grammar specification into a parser. Saxj is built upon implementation of this algorithm by use of a library of Java classes. Grammar specifications in Saxj are intentionally similar to those in YACC, Bison, and YACC++, so that the documentation of Saxj can be nearly the same as that of YACC++. The various instantiations of the class of parsers contain a single definition of the parse table; it is in this sense that the parsers are characterized as static. All of the parsers generated by the YACC family are similarly static. A dynamic parser is feasible in the case of machine learning. Saxj can be used, for example, for writing compiler software, for interpreting sequences of computer-generated commands, and for general language parsing.
- Citation
- "Program Creates Code to Parse Text," Mobility Engineering, May 1, 2001.