NAME¶
grammar::me_vm - Virtual machine for parsing token streams
DESCRIPTION¶
Please go and read the document
grammar::me_intro first for an overview
of the various documents and their relations.
This document specifies a virtual machine for the controlled matching and
parsing of token streams, creating an
abstract syntax tree (short
AST) reflecting the structure of the input. Special machine features
are the caching and reuse of partial results, caching of the encountered
input, and the ability to backtrack in both input and AST creation.
These features make the specified virtual machine especially useful to packrat
parsers based on parsing expression grammars. It is however not restricted to
this type of parser. Normal LL and LR parsers can be implemented with it as
well.
The following sections will discuss first the abstract state kept by ME virtual
machines, and then their instruction set.
MACHINE STATE¶
A ME virtual machine manages the following state:
- Current token CT
- The token from the input under consideration by the
machine.
This information is used and modified by the instructions defined in the
section TERMINAL MATCHING.
- Current location CL
- The location of the current token in the input
stream, as offset relative to the beginning of the stream. The first token
is considered to be at offset 0.
This information is implicitly used and modified by the instructions defined
in the sections TERMINAL MATCHING and NONTERMINAL MATCHING,
and can be directly queried and modified by the instructions defined in
section INPUT LOCATION HANDLING.
- Location stack LS
- In addition to the above a stack of locations, for
backtracking. Locations can put on the stack, removed from it, and removed
with setting the current location.
This information is implicitly used and modified by the instructions defined
in the sections TERMINAL MATCHING and NONTERMINAL MATCHING,
and can be directly queried and modified by the instructions defined in
section INPUT LOCATION HANDLING.
- Match status OK
- A boolean value, the result of the last attempt at matching
input. It is set to true if that attempt was successful, and
false otherwise.
This information is influenced by the instructions defined in the sections
TERMINAL MATCHING, NONTERMINAL MATCHING, and
UNCONDITIONAL MATCHING. It is queried by the instructions defined
in the section CONTROL FLOW.
- Semantic value SV
- The semantic value associated with (generated by) the last
attempt at matching input. Contains either the empty string or a node for
the abstract syntax tree constructed from the input.
This information is influenced by the instructions defined in the sections
SEMANTIC VALUES, and AST STACK HANDLING.
- AST stack AS
- A stack of partial abstract syntax trees constructed by the
machine during matching.
This information is influenced by the instructions defined in the sections
SEMANTIC VALUES, and AST STACK HANDLING.
- AST Marker stack MS
- In addition to the above a stack of stacks, for
backtracking. This is actually a stack of markers into the AST stack, thus
implicitly snapshooting the state of the AST stack at some point in time.
Markers can be put on the stack, dropped from it, and used to roll back
the AST stack to an earlier state.
This information is influenced by the instructions defined in the sections
SEMANTIC VALUES, and AST STACK HANDLING.
- Error status ER
- Error information associated with the last attempt at
matching input. Contains either the empty string or a list of 2 elements,
a location in the input and a list of error messages associated with it,
in this order.
Note that error information can be set even if the last attempt at
matching input was successful. For example the *-operator (matching a
sub-expression zero or more times) in a parsing expression grammar is
always successful, even if it encounters a problem further in the input
and has to backtrack. Such problems must not be forgotten when continuing
to match.
This information is queried and influenced by the instructions defined in
the sections TERMINAL MATCHING, NONTERMINAL MATCHING, and
ERROR HANDLING.
- Error stack ES
- In addition to the above a stack of error information, to
allow the merging of current and older error information when performing
backtracking in choices after an unsucessful match.
This information is queried and influenced by the instructions defined in
the sections TERMINAL MATCHING, NONTERMINAL MATCHING, and
ERROR HANDLING.
- Return stack RS
- A stack of program counter values, i.e. locations in the
code controlling the virtual machine, for the management of subroutine
calls, i.e. the matching of nonterminal symbols.
This information is queried and influenced by the instructions defined in
the section NONTERMINAL MATCHING.
- Nonterminal cache NC
- A cache of machine states (A 4-tuple containing a location
in the input, match status OK, semantic value SV, and error
status ER) keyed by name of nonterminal symbol and location in the
input stream.
The key location is where machine started the attempt to match the named
nonterminal symbol, and the location in the value is where machine ended
up after the attempt completed, independent of the success of the attempt.
This status is queried and influenced by the instructions defined in the
section NONTERMINAL MATCHING.
MACHINE INSTRUCTIONS¶
With the machine state specified it is now possible to explain the instruction
set of ME virtual machines. They are grouped roughly by the machine state they
influence and/or query.
TERMINAL MATCHING¶
First the instructions to match tokens from the input stream, and by extension
all terminal symbols.
These instructions are the only ones which may retrieve a new token from the
input stream. This is a
may and not a
will because the
instructions will a retrieve new token if, and only if the current location
CL is at the head of the stream. If the machine has backtracked (see
icl_rewind) the instructions will retrieve the token to compare against
from the internal cache.
- ict_advance message
- This instruction tries to advance to the next token in the
input stream, i.e. the one after the current location CL. The
instruction will fail if, and only if the end of the input stream is
reached, i.e. if there is no next token.
The sucess/failure of the instruction is remembered in the match status
OK. In the case of failure the error status ER is set to the
current location and the message message. In the case of success
the error status ER is cleared, the new token is made the current
token CT, and the new location is made the current location
CL.
The argument message is a reference to the string to put into the
error status ER, if such is needed.
- ict_match_token tok message
- This instruction tests the current token CT for
equality with the argument tok and records the result in the match
status OK. The instruction fails if the current token is not equal
to tok.
In case of failure the error status ER is set to the current location
CL and the message message, and the current location
CL is moved one token backwards. Otherwise, i.e. upon success, the
error status ER is cleared and the current location CL is
not touched.
- ict_match_tokrange tokbegin tokend
message
- This instruction tests the current token CT for
being in the range of tokens from tokbegin to tokend
(inclusive) and records the result in the match status OK. The
instruction fails if the current token is not inside the range.
In case of failure the error status ER is set to the current location
CL and the message message, and the current location
CL is moved one token backwards. Otherwise, i.e. upon success, the
error status ER is cleared and the current location CL is
not touched.
- ict_match_tokclass code message
- This instruction tests the current token CT for
being a member of the token class code and records the result in
the match status OK. The instruction fails if the current token is
not a member of the specified class.
In case of failure the error status ER is set to the current location
CL and the message message, and the current location
CL is moved one token backwards. Otherwise, i.e. upon success, the
error status ER is cleared and the current location CL is
not touched.
Currently the following classes are legal:
- alnum
- A token is accepted if it is a unicode alphabetical
character, or a digit.
- alpha
- A token is accepted if it is a unicode alphabetical
character.
- digit
- A token is accepted if it is a unicode digit
character.
- xdigit
- A token is accepted if it is a hexadecimal digit
character.
- punct
- A token is accepted if it is a unicode punctuation
character.
- space
- A token is accepted if it is a unicode space
character.
NONTERMINAL MATCHING¶
The instructions in this section handle the matching of nonterminal symbols.
They query the nonterminal cache
NC for saved information, and put such
information into the cache.
The usage of the cache is a performance aid for backtracking parsers, allowing
them to avoid an expensive rematch of complex nonterminal symbols if they have
been encountered before.
- inc_restore branchlabel nt
- This instruction checks if the nonterminal cache NC
contains information about the nonterminal symbol nt, at the
current location CL. If that is the case the instruction will
update the machine state (current location CL, match status
OK, semantic value SV, and error status ER) with the
found information and continue execution at the instruction refered to by
the branchlabel. The new current location CL will be the
last token matched by the nonterminal symbol, i.e. belonging to it.
If no information was found the instruction will continue execution at the
next instruction.
Together with icf_ntcall it is possible to generate code for memoized
and non-memoized matching of nonterminal symbols, either as subroutine
calls, or inlined in the caller.
- inc_save nt
- This instruction saves the current state of the machine
(current location CL, match status OK, semantic value
SV, and error status ER), to the nonterminal cache
NC. It will also pop an entry from the location stack LS and
save it as the start location of the match.
It is expected to be called at the end of matching a nonterminal symbol,
with nt the name of the nonterminal symbol the code was working on.
This allows the instruction inc_restore to check for and retrieve
the data, should we have to match this nonterminal symbol at the same
location again, during backtracking.
- icf_ntcall branchlabel
- This instruction invokes the code for matching the
nonterminal symbol nt as a subroutine. To this end it stores the
current program counter PC on the return stack RS, the
current location CL on the location stack LS, and then
continues execution at the address branchlabel.
The next matching icf_ntreturn will cause the execution to continue
at the instruction coming after the call.
- icf_ntreturn
- This instruction will pop an entry from the return stack
RS, assign it to the program counter PC, and then continue
execution at the new address.
UNCONDITIONAL MATCHING¶
The instructions in this section are the remaining match operators. They change
the match status
OK directly and unconditionally.
- iok_ok
- This instruction sets the match status OK to
true, indicating a successful match.
- iok_fail
- This instruction sets the match status OK to
false, indicating a failed match.
- iok_negate
- This instruction negates the match status OK,
turning a failure into a success and vice versa.
CONTROL FLOW¶
The instructions in this section implement both conditional and unconditional
control flow. The conditional jumps query the match status
OK.
- icf_jalways branchlabel
- This instruction sets the program counter PC to the
address specified by branchlabel and then continues execution from
there. This is an unconditional jump.
- icf_jok branchlabel
- This instruction sets the program counter PC to the
address specified by branchlabel. This happens if, and only if the
match status OK indicates a success. Otherwise it simply continues
execution at the next instruction. This is a conditional jump.
- icf_jfail branchlabel
- This instruction sets the program counter PC to the
address specified by branchlabel. This happens if, and only if the
match status OK indicates a failure. Otherwise it simply continues
execution at the next instruction. This is a conditional jump.
- icf_halt
- This instruction halts the machine and blocks any further
execution.
The instructions in this section are for backtracking, they manipulate the
current location
CL of the machine state. They allow a user of the
machine to query and save locations in the input, and to rewind the current
location
CL to saved locations, making them one of the components
enabling the implementation of backtracking parsers.
- icl_push
- This instruction pushes a copy of the current location
CL on the location stack LS.
- icl_rewind
- This instruction pops an entry from the location stack
LS and then moves the current location CL back to this point
in the input.
- icl_pop
- This instruction pops an entry from the location stack
LS and discards it.
ERROR HANDLING¶
The instructions in this section provide read and write access to the error
status
ER of the machine.
- ier_push
- This instruction pushes a copy of the current error status
ER on the error stack ES.
- ier_clear
- This instruction clears the error status ER.
- ier_nonterminal message
- This instruction checks if the error status ER
contains an error whose location is just past the location found in the
top entry of the location stack LS. Nothing happens if no such
error is found. Otherwise the found error is replaced by an error at the
location found on the stack, having the message message.
- ier_merge
- This instruction pops an entry from the error stack
ES, merges it with the current error status ER and stores
the result of the merge as the new error status ER.
The merge is performed as described below:
If one of the two error states is empty the other is chosen. If neither
error state is empty, and refering to different locations, then the error
state with the location further in the input is chosen. If both error
states refer to the same location their messages are merged (with removing
duplicates).
SEMANTIC VALUES¶
The instructions in this section manipulate the semantic value
SV.
- isv_clear
- This instruction clears the semantic value SV.
- isv_terminal
- This instruction creates a terminal AST node for the
current token CT, makes it the semantic value SV, and also
pushes the node on the AST stack AS.
- isv_nonterminal_leaf nt
- This instruction creates a nonterminal AST node without any
children for the nonterminal nt, and makes it the semantic value
SV.
This instruction should be executed if, and only if the match status
OK indicates a success. In the case of a failure isv_clear
should be called.
- isv_nonterminal_range nt
- This instruction creates a nonterminal AST node for the
nonterminal nt, with a single terminal node as its child, and makes
this AST the semantic value SV. The terminal node refers to the
input string from the location found on top of the location stack
LS to the current location CL (both inclusive).
This instruction should be executed if, and only if the match status
OK indicates a success. In the case of a failure isv_clear
should be called.
- isv_nonterminal_reduce nt
- This instruction creates a nonterminal AST node for the
nonterminal nt and makes it the semantic value SV.
All entries on the AST stack AS above the marker found in the top
entry of the AST Marker stack MS become children of the new node,
with the entry at the stack top becoming the rightmost child. If the AST
Marker stack MS is empty the whole stack is used. The AST marker
stack MS is left unchanged.
This instruction should be executed if, and only if the match status
OK indicates a success. In the case of a failure isv_clear
should be called.
AST STACK HANDLING¶
The instructions in this section manipulate the AST stack
AS, and the AST
Marker stack
MS.
- ias_push
- This instruction pushes the semantic value SV on the
AST stack AS.
- ias_mark
- This instruction pushes a marker for the current state of
the AST stack AS on the AST Marker stack MS.
- ias_mrewind
- This instruction pops an entry from the AST Marker stack
MS and then proceeds to pop entries from the AST stack AS
until the state represented by the popped marker has been reached again.
Nothing is done if the AST stack AS is already smaller than
indicated by the popped marker.
- ias_mpop
- This instruction pops an entry from the AST Marker stack
MS and discards it.
BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK¶
This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly contain bugs and
other problems. Please report such in the category
grammar_me of the
Tcllib SF Trackers [
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=12883].
Please also report any ideas for enhancements you may have for either package
and/or documentation.
KEYWORDS¶
grammar, parsing, virtual machine
CATEGORY¶
Grammars and finite automata
COPYRIGHT¶
Copyright (c) 2005 Andreas Kupries <andreas_kupries@users.sourceforge.net>