Compilers: principles, techniques, and tools
Compilers: principles, techniques, and tools
Exploring Algorithms Using Balsa-II
Computer
Compiler design in C
Thinking in C++
Debugging and the experience of immediacy
Communications of the ACM
The C++ Programming Language, Third Edition
The C++ Programming Language, Third Edition
Writing Compilers and Interpreters: An Applied Approach Using C++
Writing Compilers and Interpreters: An Applied Approach Using C++
Difficulties in Learning and Teaching Programming—Views of Students and Tutors
Education and Information Technologies
Visualizing Object-Oriented Programs with Jinsight
ECOOP '98 Workshop ion on Object-Oriented Technology
Vmgen: a generator of efficient virtual machine interpreters
Software—Practice & Experience
OGRE: Three-Dimensional Program Visualization for Novice Programmers
Education and Information Technologies
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Although the principles of writing compilers and interpreters are well known, we have found that the ideas needed to develop an interpreter for the express purpose of allowing direct interaction with the running code do not yet appear to have been published in an academic context. We describe a programming method that can be used for the production of an interpreter for common object-oriented languages such as C++, Java and C#. The main purpose of the interpreter is to parse short, relatively simple programs and allow direct interaction between the user and the running code. Such a system is useful for projects such as OGRE, which is an educational tool allowing students to visualize in three-dimensional graphics the state of a program as it runs. The interpreter works by first parsing the source code and building up a data structure capable of representing the program's source code in a form that can be used to both run the program and extract detailed information from the running program. This extraction allows for novel uses of the interpreter, such as forming the basis for a visualization system that must display and provide such information to the user as they watch their executing program. This paper considers the construction of such an interpreter specifically for C++, but the principles should be the same for other similar languages such as Java and C#. We cover the main tasks required of the programmer to create and use the data structure, highlighting areas such as its design, initial construction during parsing, and techniques required to use it for interpretation. These include the ability for the data structure to intelligently clone subsets of itself when multiple copies of one of its elements are required by the running program, how it handles C++'s complicated function overloading and overriding rules, and how inheritance and polymorphism can be supported. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.