Translating Between Programming Languages Using A Canonical Representation And Attribute Grammar Inversion

Technical reports:

Title:: Translating Between Programming Languages Using A Canonical Representation And Attribute Grammar Inversion
Author(s):: Farrow, Rodney
Yellin, Daniel
Date:: 1986
Type:: Technical reports
Department:: Computer Science
Permanent URL:: http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:11724
Series:: Columbia University Computer Science Technical Reports
Part Number:: CUCS-247-86
Publisher:: Department of Computer Science, Columbia University
Publisher Location:: New York
Abstract:: Automatic translation between programming languages is an important tool for increasing program reusability. Often the need arises to transport a large software system from one source language environment to another. Performing such a translation by hand is a large undertaking, costly in manpower and very error-prone. For this reason, several researchers have built automated tools to aid them in particular such projects [3, 1]. In this paper we present a new methodology for building source-to-source translators. This methodology involves designing a canonical form to represent programs of all source languages involved, and using attribute grammars (AGs) and automatic AG-inversion to build bidirectional translators between the various source languages and the canonical form. To test the feasibility of these ideas, we have created a system to translate between the C and Pascal programming languages.
Subject(s):: Computer science