PRECC - A PREttier Compiler-Compiler

Peter Breuer and Jonathan Bowen

Introduction
Obtaining PRECCX
Documentation
Papers and reports
Z notation grammar

Introduction

PRECC eXtended is an infinite-lookahead compiler-compiler for context dependent grammars developed during and after the ESPRIT II REDO project. The generated code is ANSI C. Specification scripts are in very extended BNF with inherited and synthetic attributes allowed. Scripts can be compiled in separate modules, and linked together later. Meta-production rules are allowed. The technology is essentially LL() with optimizations. A converter for yacc scripts is available.

News concerning PRECC is issued from time to time on the moderated (and therefore recommended) comp.compilers newsgroup including in the language tools catalog.

Obtaining PRECCX

Sourceforge project site : click the big green download button under the "project" tab.

Old versions of PRECCX are available for UNIX in gzip (compressed) tar format and also for use on a PC under DOS as several zip format files. These are some of the historical archives available:

UNIX version available as a single "gzipped" tar format file.

DOS version in a directory including an index and information.

PRECC examples available as a single "gzipped" tar format file.

PRECC 2.44 for Linux, a single "gzipped" tar format file.

Old stable widely available version.

PRECC version 2.45 and later FTP directory.

Newer and more experimental versions.

A Z notation grammar is available in info-zip format and gzipped Unix tar format for use with PRECC. The former is suitable for use under DOS, apart from the Unix makefile. See PRECC support for parsing the Z notation.

Please note that PRECCX under continual development and is available on an as is basis, although comments are of course welcome.

Documentation

The following on-line documentation is available:

PRECCX User Manual in HTML format (large).
Unix-style manual page (also in smaller compressed PostScript format).
PRECC FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) - currently in plain text only.

Papers and reports

The following papers and report concerned with PRECC have been published and/or are available on-line:

A PREttier Compiler-Compiler: Generating Higher Order Parsers in C, Peter Breuer and Jonathan Bowen. Software - Practice and Experience 25(1):1263-1297, November 1995. See also Programming Research Group Technical Report PRG-TR-20-92, 25pp, November 1992.
A PREttier Compiler-Compiler: higher order programming in C, Peter Breuer. In Proc. TOULOUSE 92: Fifth International Conference on Software Engineering and its Applications, Toulouse, France, 7-11 December 1992. Available from EC2, 269/287 rue de la Garenne, 92024 Nanterre Cedex, France.
Occam's Razor: The Cutting Edge of Parser Technology, Jonathan Bowen and Peter Breuer. In Proc. TOULOUSE 92: Fifth International Conference on Software Engineering and its Applications, Toulouse, France, 7-11 December 1992. Available from EC2, 269/287 rue de la Garenne, 92024 Nanterre Cedex, France.
The PRECC Compiler-Compiler, Peter Breuer and Jonathan Bowen. In Elwyn Davies and Andrew Findlay (eds.), Proc. UKUUG/SUKUG Joint New Year 1993 Conference, Oxford, UK, 6-8 January 1993. UKUUG/SUKUG Secretariat, Owles Hall, Buntingford, Herts SG9 9PL, UK, pp 167-182, 1993.

A Concrete Grammar for Z, Peter Breuer and Jonathan Bowen. Oxford University Computing Laboratory Technical Report PRG-TR-22-95, September 1995. Presented as a poster at FME'96.