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On the optimality of change propagation for incremental evaluation of hierarchical attribute grammars

Editor: Andrew W. Appel Authors:

Alan Carle,

Lori PollockAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems (TOPLAS), Volume 18, Issue 1

Pages 16 - 29

https://doi.org/10.1145/225540.225542

Published: 01 January 1996 Publication History

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Abstract

Several new attribute grammar dialects have recently been developed, all with the common goal of allowing large, complex language translators to be specified through a modular composition of smaller attribute grammars. We refer to the class of dialects as hierarchical attribute grammars. In this short article, we present a characterization of optimal incremental evaluation that indicates the unsuitability of change propagation as the basis of an optimal incremental evaluator for hierarchical attribute grammars. This result lends strong support to the use of incremental evaluators based on more applicative approaches to attribute evaluation, such as Carle and Pollock's evaluator based on more applicative approaches to attribute evaluation, such as Carle and Pollock's evaluator based on caching of partially attributed subtree, Pugh's evaluator based on function caching of semantic functions, and Swierstra and Vogt's evaluator based on functions, and Swierstra and Vogt's evaluator based on function caching of visit sequences.

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Cited By

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Kuiper MSaraiva J(2005)Lrc — a generator for incremental language-oriented toolsCompiler Construction10.1007/BFb0026440(298-301)Online publication date: 15-Jun-2005
https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0026440
Saraiva JSwierstra DCzarnecki KPfenning FSmaragdakis Y(2003)Generating spreadsheet-like tools from strong attribute grammarsProceedings of the 2nd international conference on Generative programming and component engineering10.5555/954186.954205(307-323)Online publication date: 22-Sep-2003
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/954186.954205
Saraiva JSchneider S(2003)Embedding domain specific languages in the attribute grammar formalism36th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2003. Proceedings of the10.1109/HICSS.2003.1174889(10 pp.)Online publication date: 2003
https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2003.1174889
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Index Terms

On the optimality of change propagation for incremental evaluation of hierarchical attribute grammars
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software notations and tools
    1. Compilers
      1. Translator writing systems and compiler generators
    2. Formal language definitions
      1. Semantics
      2. Syntax
2. Theory of computation
  1. Formal languages and automata theory
  2. Semantics and reasoning
    1. Program semantics

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Reviews

Reviewer: James Dennis Kiper

Attribute grammars have proven their utility for the specification of programming language translators. When applied to complex languages, these attribute grammars are likewise complex. Modular composition of smaller attribute grammars provides a structure for making a large complex attribute grammar easier to understand, develop, and maintain. In this paper, Carle and Pollock refer to these attribute grammar dialects as hierarchical attribute grammars. One of the goals of research on attribute grammars has been efficient incremental evaluation of attribute values. One of the most common approaches is based on change propagation. When an attributed syntax tree is modified, the affected attributes must be modified. When applied to hierarchical attribute grammars, change propagation cannot be isolated to each module. This means that change propagation algorithms cannot be limited to an examination of those modules that have been modified. The authors present an analysis that shows that change propagation is unsuitable for achieving an optimal incremental evaluator for hierarchical attribute grammars. Carle and Pollock conclude this paper with three examples of incremental evaluation algorithms that use a more applicative approach to achieving optimality.

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cover image ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems

ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems Volume 18, Issue 1

Jan. 1996

108 pages

ISSN:0164-0925

EISSN:1558-4593

DOI:10.1145/225540

Editor:
Andrew W. Appel
Princeton Univ., Princeton

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 January 1996

Published in TOPLAS Volume 18, Issue 1

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Kuiper MSaraiva J(2005)Lrc — a generator for incremental language-oriented toolsCompiler Construction10.1007/BFb0026440(298-301)Online publication date: 15-Jun-2005
https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0026440
Saraiva JSwierstra DCzarnecki KPfenning FSmaragdakis Y(2003)Generating spreadsheet-like tools from strong attribute grammarsProceedings of the 2nd international conference on Generative programming and component engineering10.5555/954186.954205(307-323)Online publication date: 22-Sep-2003
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/954186.954205
Saraiva JSchneider S(2003)Embedding domain specific languages in the attribute grammar formalism36th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2003. Proceedings of the10.1109/HICSS.2003.1174889(10 pp.)Online publication date: 2003
https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2003.1174889
Saraiva JSwierstra D(2003)Generating Spreadsheet-Like Tools from Strong Attribute GrammarsGenerative Programming and Component Engineering10.1007/978-3-540-39815-8_19(307-323)Online publication date: 2003
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-39815-8_19
Boyland J(2002)Incremental Evaluators for Remote Attribute GrammarsElectronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science10.1016/S1571-0661(04)80424-965:3(9-29)Online publication date: Jul-2002
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1571-0661(04)80424-9
Saraiva JSwierstra DKuiper M(2001)Functional Incremental Attribute EvaluationCompiler Construction10.1007/3-540-46423-9_19(279-294)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2001
https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46423-9_19
Bottoni PCostabile MMussio P(1999)Specification and dialogue control of visual interaction through visual rewriting systemsACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems10.1145/330643.33064421:6(1077-1136)Online publication date: 1-Nov-1999
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Matching-based incremental evaluators for hierarchical attribute grammar dialects

Incremental attribute evaluation through recursive procedures

Incremental Evaluation of Higher Order Attributes

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