Definitive ANTLR 4 Reference

Product Description

Programmers run into parsing problems all the time Whether it's a data format like JSON a network protocol like SMTP a server configuration file for Apache a Post Script PDF file or a simple spreadsheet macro language--ANTLR v 4 & this book will demystify the process ANTLR v 4 has been rewritten from scratch to make it easier than ever to build parsers & the language applications built on top This completely rewritten new edition of the bestselling Definitive ANTLR Reference shows you how to take advantage of these new features Build your own languages with ANTLR v 4 using ANTLR's new advanced parsing technology In this book you'll learn how ANTLR automatically builds a data structure representing the input (parse tree) & generates code that can walk the tree (visitor) You can use that combination to implement data readers language interpreters & translators You'll start by learning how to identify grammar patterns in language reference manuals & then slowly start building increasingly complex grammars Next you'll build applications based upon those grammars by walking the automatically generated parse trees Then you'll tackle some nasty language problems by parsing files containing more than one language (such as XML Java & Javadoc) You'll also see how to take absolute control over parsing by embedding Java actions into the grammar You'll learn directly from well-known parsing expert Terence Parr the ANTLR creator & project lead You'll master ANTLR grammar construction & learn how to build language tools using the built-in parse tree visitor mechanism The book teaches using real-world examples & shows you how to use ANTLR to build such things as a data file reader a JSON to XML translator an R parser & a Java class-interface extractor This book is your ticket to becoming a parsing guru! What You Need ANTLR 40 & above Java development tools Ant build system optional (needed for building ANTLR from source)