The Definitive ANTLR 4 Reference

Terence Parr

Build your own languages with ANTLR v4, 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) and generates code that can walk the tree (visitor). You can use that combination to implement data readers, language interpreters, and translators.

You'll start by learning how to identify grammar patterns in language reference manuals and 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, and 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 and project lead. You'll master ANTLR grammar construction and learn how to build language tools using the built-in parse tree visitor mechanism. The book teaches using real-world examples and shows you how to use ANTLR to build such things as a data file reader, a JSON to XML translator, an R parser, and a Java class?interface extractor. This book is your ticket to becoming a parsing guru!

You can find out more about ANTLR 4 in this interview with Terence Parr.

What You Need:

ANTLR 4.0 and above. Java development tools. Ant build system optional
(needed for building ANTLR from source)

Table of contents

• The Definitive ANTLR 4 Reference