Re: Newbie Question re: Transforming a domain specific language.

[Laurence Finston]

Matt Friedman wrote:

> 
> I'm quite the newbie here. I'm an experienced programmer but have
> recently found a need to implement a small domain specific language.

> If this is the wrong list or a bad topic perhaps you can
> let me know and steer me in the right direction.

If you get a usable answer, it was the right list.

> 
> So finally, to my question: is this a job for a language
> generator/parser 

I think so, however if you don't mind a bit of pedantry, I prefer the term
compiler generator and would call it a job for a scanner (or lexer) 
and a parser.  Generally speaking, I believe problems that don't require
organizing information in a hierarchical structure, such as some forms of
macro processing, can be solved with a scanner alone, while those that do
require parsing.  However, I suspect that what you call "[executing] a series
of steps in a linear fashion" may actually require a parser, depending on how
your sets are specified or generated.

I may be biased, after all, this is a mailing list for GNU Bison, but I think
Bison would be a good tool for solving this problem, possibly together with
Flex.

> has anyone been faced with this challenge

I dunno.  Probably.

> and how might I approach it? Any pointers would be greatly
> appreciated.

Start hacking.  If you run into a problem, ask for help.

Laurence Finston