A transportable programming language (TPL) system. II. The bifunctional compiler system

For pt.I see P.A.D. de Maine, S. Leong, and C.G. Dairs, Int. J. Comput. Inform. Sci., vol.14, p.161-82, 1985. The transportable programming language (TPL) method is a high-level-language approach that uses a bifunctional compiler to efficiently convert code among various dialects of a particular high-level language (HLL) via the hypothetical parent of the high-level language (HPHLL). The TPL compiler system that has been implemented has three parts: a rule modifier, a table generator, and a TPL compiler. A metalanguage, called the conversion rule description language (CRDL), is used to describe the conversion of a dialect to HPHLL and of the HPHLL to another dialect. The table generator translates those descriptions to tabular forms that drive the bifunctional compiler. The TPL compiler can then be used to translate programs coded in a local dialect into HPHLL and vice versa. The rule modifier alters the descriptions of a default-a synthetic 'most common'-dialect. It greatly simplifies the task of writing the conversion descriptions for a new environment or dialect. The TPL method is now being extended so that it can be used to retarget a dialect of any HLL to a standard environment such as Ada. Details of the TPL compiler system are given.<
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