Python Front-end to GCC

[Piet van Oostrum]

Mark Janssen <dreamingforward at gmail.com> writes:

> I love it.  Watch this...
>
> [context]
>>>> A language specification in BNF is just syntax. It doesn't say anything
>>>> about semantics. So how could this be used to produce executable C code
>>>> for a program? BNF is used to produce parsers. But a parser isn't
>>>> sufficient.
>>>
>>> A C program is just syntax also.  How does the compiler generate
>>> executable machine code?  Extrapolate into a Python front-end to C.
>
> [Dave Angel responds:]
>> Did you even read the paragraph you quoted above?  The BNF specification
>> does NOT completely describe a language, it only defines its syntax.
>
> [Steven D'Aprano responds:]
>> Like every other language, C programs are certainly not *just* syntax.
>> Here is some syntax:
>>
>> &foo bar^ :=
>
> Now, I don't know where y'all were taught Computer Science, but BNF
> specifies not only syntax (which would be the *tokens* of a language),
> but also its *grammar*;  how syntax relates to linguistic categories
> like keywords, and tokens relate to each other.

Syntax is grammar. Tokens are part of the grammar (but often specified separately with a different grammar, usually regular expressions, which is a subset of BNF).

So are you just confused or are you trollong?

-- 
Piet van Oostrum <piet at vanoostrum.org>
WWW: http://pietvanoostrum.com/
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