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|  | <title>Kaleidoscope: Implementing a Parser and AST</title> | 
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|  | <meta name="author" content="Chris Lattner"> | 
|  | <meta name="author" content="Erick Tryzelaar"> | 
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|  |  | 
|  | <h1>Kaleidoscope: Implementing a Parser and AST</h1> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <ul> | 
|  | <li><a href="index.html">Up to Tutorial Index</a></li> | 
|  | <li>Chapter 2 | 
|  | <ol> | 
|  | <li><a href="#intro">Chapter 2 Introduction</a></li> | 
|  | <li><a href="#ast">The Abstract Syntax Tree (AST)</a></li> | 
|  | <li><a href="#parserbasics">Parser Basics</a></li> | 
|  | <li><a href="#parserprimexprs">Basic Expression Parsing</a></li> | 
|  | <li><a href="#parserbinops">Binary Expression Parsing</a></li> | 
|  | <li><a href="#parsertop">Parsing the Rest</a></li> | 
|  | <li><a href="#driver">The Driver</a></li> | 
|  | <li><a href="#conclusions">Conclusions</a></li> | 
|  | <li><a href="#code">Full Code Listing</a></li> | 
|  | </ol> | 
|  | </li> | 
|  | <li><a href="OCamlLangImpl3.html">Chapter 3</a>: Code generation to LLVM IR</li> | 
|  | </ul> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_author"> | 
|  | <p> | 
|  | Written by <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a> | 
|  | and <a href="mailto:idadesub@users.sourceforge.net">Erick Tryzelaar</a> | 
|  | </p> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  | <h2><a name="intro">Chapter 2 Introduction</a></h2> | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>Welcome to Chapter 2 of the "<a href="index.html">Implementing a language | 
|  | with LLVM in Objective Caml</a>" tutorial.  This chapter shows you how to use | 
|  | the lexer, built in <a href="OCamlLangImpl1.html">Chapter 1</a>, to build a | 
|  | full <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsing">parser</a> for our | 
|  | Kaleidoscope language.  Once we have a parser, we'll define and build an <a | 
|  | href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_syntax_tree">Abstract Syntax | 
|  | Tree</a> (AST).</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>The parser we will build uses a combination of <a | 
|  | href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursive_descent_parser">Recursive Descent | 
|  | Parsing</a> and <a href= | 
|  | "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator-precedence_parser">Operator-Precedence | 
|  | Parsing</a> to parse the Kaleidoscope language (the latter for | 
|  | binary expressions and the former for everything else).  Before we get to | 
|  | parsing though, lets talk about the output of the parser: the Abstract Syntax | 
|  | Tree.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  | <h2><a name="ast">The Abstract Syntax Tree (AST)</a></h2> | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>The AST for a program captures its behavior in such a way that it is easy for | 
|  | later stages of the compiler (e.g. code generation) to interpret.  We basically | 
|  | want one object for each construct in the language, and the AST should closely | 
|  | model the language.  In Kaleidoscope, we have expressions, a prototype, and a | 
|  | function object.  We'll start with expressions first:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* expr - Base type for all expression nodes. *) | 
|  | type expr = | 
|  | (* variant for numeric literals like "1.0". *) | 
|  | | Number of float | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>The code above shows the definition of the base ExprAST class and one | 
|  | subclass which we use for numeric literals.  The important thing to note about | 
|  | this code is that the Number variant captures the numeric value of the | 
|  | literal as an instance variable. This allows later phases of the compiler to | 
|  | know what the stored numeric value is.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>Right now we only create the AST,  so there are no useful functions on | 
|  | them.  It would be very easy to add a function to pretty print the code, | 
|  | for example.  Here are the other expression AST node definitions that we'll use | 
|  | in the basic form of the Kaleidoscope language: | 
|  | </p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* variant for referencing a variable, like "a". *) | 
|  | | Variable of string | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* variant for a binary operator. *) | 
|  | | Binary of char * expr * expr | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* variant for function calls. *) | 
|  | | Call of string * expr array | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>This is all (intentionally) rather straight-forward: variables capture the | 
|  | variable name, binary operators capture their opcode (e.g. '+'), and calls | 
|  | capture a function name as well as a list of any argument expressions.  One thing | 
|  | that is nice about our AST is that it captures the language features without | 
|  | talking about the syntax of the language.  Note that there is no discussion about | 
|  | precedence of binary operators, lexical structure, etc.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>For our basic language, these are all of the expression nodes we'll define. | 
|  | Because it doesn't have conditional control flow, it isn't Turing-complete; | 
|  | we'll fix that in a later installment.  The two things we need next are a way | 
|  | to talk about the interface to a function, and a way to talk about functions | 
|  | themselves:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* proto - This type represents the "prototype" for a function, which captures | 
|  | * its name, and its argument names (thus implicitly the number of arguments the | 
|  | * function takes). *) | 
|  | type proto = Prototype of string * string array | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* func - This type represents a function definition itself. *) | 
|  | type func = Function of proto * expr | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>In Kaleidoscope, functions are typed with just a count of their arguments. | 
|  | Since all values are double precision floating point, the type of each argument | 
|  | doesn't need to be stored anywhere.  In a more aggressive and realistic | 
|  | language, the "expr" variants would probably have a type field.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>With this scaffolding, we can now talk about parsing expressions and function | 
|  | bodies in Kaleidoscope.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  | <h2><a name="parserbasics">Parser Basics</a></h2> | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>Now that we have an AST to build, we need to define the parser code to build | 
|  | it.  The idea here is that we want to parse something like "x+y" (which is | 
|  | returned as three tokens by the lexer) into an AST that could be generated with | 
|  | calls like this:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | let x = Variable "x" in | 
|  | let y = Variable "y" in | 
|  | let result = Binary ('+', x, y) in | 
|  | ... | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p> | 
|  | The error handling routines make use of the builtin <tt>Stream.Failure</tt> and | 
|  | <tt>Stream.Error</tt>s.  <tt>Stream.Failure</tt> is raised when the parser is | 
|  | unable to find any matching token in the first position of a pattern. | 
|  | <tt>Stream.Error</tt> is raised when the first token matches, but the rest do | 
|  | not.  The error recovery in our parser will not be the best and is not | 
|  | particular user-friendly, but it will be enough for our tutorial.  These | 
|  | exceptions make it easier to handle errors in routines that have various return | 
|  | types.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>With these basic types and exceptions, we can implement the first | 
|  | piece of our grammar: numeric literals.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  | <h2><a name="parserprimexprs">Basic Expression Parsing</a></h2> | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>We start with numeric literals, because they are the simplest to process. | 
|  | For each production in our grammar, we'll define a function which parses that | 
|  | production.  We call this class of expressions "primary" expressions, for | 
|  | reasons that will become more clear <a href="OCamlLangImpl6.html#unary"> | 
|  | later in the tutorial</a>.  In order to parse an arbitrary primary expression, | 
|  | we need to determine what sort of expression it is.  For numeric literals, we | 
|  | have:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* primary | 
|  | *   ::= identifier | 
|  | *   ::= numberexpr | 
|  | *   ::= parenexpr *) | 
|  | parse_primary = parser | 
|  | (* numberexpr ::= number *) | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Number n >] -> Ast.Number n | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>This routine is very simple: it expects to be called when the current token | 
|  | is a <tt>Token.Number</tt> token.  It takes the current number value, creates | 
|  | a <tt>Ast.Number</tt> node, advances the lexer to the next token, and finally | 
|  | returns.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>There are some interesting aspects to this.  The most important one is that | 
|  | this routine eats all of the tokens that correspond to the production and | 
|  | returns the lexer buffer with the next token (which is not part of the grammar | 
|  | production) ready to go.  This is a fairly standard way to go for recursive | 
|  | descent parsers.  For a better example, the parenthesis operator is defined like | 
|  | this:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* parenexpr ::= '(' expression ')' *) | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Kwd '('; e=parse_expr; 'Token.Kwd ')' ?? "expected ')'" >] -> e | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>This function illustrates a number of interesting things about the | 
|  | parser:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p> | 
|  | 1) It shows how we use the <tt>Stream.Error</tt> exception.  When called, this | 
|  | function expects that the current token is a '(' token, but after parsing the | 
|  | subexpression, it is possible that there is no ')' waiting.  For example, if | 
|  | the user types in "(4 x" instead of "(4)", the parser should emit an error. | 
|  | Because errors can occur, the parser needs a way to indicate that they | 
|  | happened. In our parser, we use the camlp4 shortcut syntax <tt>token ?? "parse | 
|  | error"</tt>, where if the token before the <tt>??</tt> does not match, then | 
|  | <tt>Stream.Error "parse error"</tt> will be raised.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>2) Another interesting aspect of this function is that it uses recursion by | 
|  | calling <tt>Parser.parse_primary</tt> (we will soon see that | 
|  | <tt>Parser.parse_primary</tt> can call <tt>Parser.parse_primary</tt>).  This is | 
|  | powerful because it allows us to handle recursive grammars, and keeps each | 
|  | production very simple.  Note that parentheses do not cause construction of AST | 
|  | nodes themselves.  While we could do it this way, the most important role of | 
|  | parentheses are to guide the parser and provide grouping.  Once the parser | 
|  | constructs the AST, parentheses are not needed.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>The next simple production is for handling variable references and function | 
|  | calls:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* identifierexpr | 
|  | *   ::= identifier | 
|  | *   ::= identifier '(' argumentexpr ')' *) | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Ident id; stream >] -> | 
|  | let rec parse_args accumulator = parser | 
|  | | [< e=parse_expr; stream >] -> | 
|  | begin parser | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Kwd ','; e=parse_args (e :: accumulator) >] -> e | 
|  | | [< >] -> e :: accumulator | 
|  | end stream | 
|  | | [< >] -> accumulator | 
|  | in | 
|  | let rec parse_ident id = parser | 
|  | (* Call. *) | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Kwd '('; | 
|  | args=parse_args []; | 
|  | 'Token.Kwd ')' ?? "expected ')'">] -> | 
|  | Ast.Call (id, Array.of_list (List.rev args)) | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Simple variable ref. *) | 
|  | | [< >] -> Ast.Variable id | 
|  | in | 
|  | parse_ident id stream | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>This routine follows the same style as the other routines.  (It expects to be | 
|  | called if the current token is a <tt>Token.Ident</tt> token).  It also has | 
|  | recursion and error handling.  One interesting aspect of this is that it uses | 
|  | <em>look-ahead</em> to determine if the current identifier is a stand alone | 
|  | variable reference or if it is a function call expression.  It handles this by | 
|  | checking to see if the token after the identifier is a '(' token, constructing | 
|  | either a <tt>Ast.Variable</tt> or <tt>Ast.Call</tt> node as appropriate. | 
|  | </p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>We finish up by raising an exception if we received a token we didn't | 
|  | expect:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | | [< >] -> raise (Stream.Error "unknown token when expecting an expression.") | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>Now that basic expressions are handled, we need to handle binary expressions. | 
|  | They are a bit more complex.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  | <h2><a name="parserbinops">Binary Expression Parsing</a></h2> | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>Binary expressions are significantly harder to parse because they are often | 
|  | ambiguous.  For example, when given the string "x+y*z", the parser can choose | 
|  | to parse it as either "(x+y)*z" or "x+(y*z)".  With common definitions from | 
|  | mathematics, we expect the later parse, because "*" (multiplication) has | 
|  | higher <em>precedence</em> than "+" (addition).</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>There are many ways to handle this, but an elegant and efficient way is to | 
|  | use <a href= | 
|  | "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator-precedence_parser">Operator-Precedence | 
|  | Parsing</a>.  This parsing technique uses the precedence of binary operators to | 
|  | guide recursion.  To start with, we need a table of precedences:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* binop_precedence - This holds the precedence for each binary operator that is | 
|  | * defined *) | 
|  | let binop_precedence:(char, int) Hashtbl.t = Hashtbl.create 10 | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* precedence - Get the precedence of the pending binary operator token. *) | 
|  | let precedence c = try Hashtbl.find binop_precedence c with Not_found -> -1 | 
|  |  | 
|  | ... | 
|  |  | 
|  | let main () = | 
|  | (* Install standard binary operators. | 
|  | * 1 is the lowest precedence. *) | 
|  | Hashtbl.add Parser.binop_precedence '<' 10; | 
|  | Hashtbl.add Parser.binop_precedence '+' 20; | 
|  | Hashtbl.add Parser.binop_precedence '-' 20; | 
|  | Hashtbl.add Parser.binop_precedence '*' 40;    (* highest. *) | 
|  | ... | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>For the basic form of Kaleidoscope, we will only support 4 binary operators | 
|  | (this can obviously be extended by you, our brave and intrepid reader).  The | 
|  | <tt>Parser.precedence</tt> function returns the precedence for the current | 
|  | token, or -1 if the token is not a binary operator.  Having a <tt>Hashtbl.t</tt> | 
|  | makes it easy to add new operators and makes it clear that the algorithm doesn't | 
|  | depend on the specific operators involved, but it would be easy enough to | 
|  | eliminate the <tt>Hashtbl.t</tt> and do the comparisons in the | 
|  | <tt>Parser.precedence</tt> function.  (Or just use a fixed-size array).</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>With the helper above defined, we can now start parsing binary expressions. | 
|  | The basic idea of operator precedence parsing is to break down an expression | 
|  | with potentially ambiguous binary operators into pieces.  Consider ,for example, | 
|  | the expression "a+b+(c+d)*e*f+g".  Operator precedence parsing considers this | 
|  | as a stream of primary expressions separated by binary operators.  As such, | 
|  | it will first parse the leading primary expression "a", then it will see the | 
|  | pairs [+, b] [+, (c+d)] [*, e] [*, f] and [+, g].  Note that because parentheses | 
|  | are primary expressions, the binary expression parser doesn't need to worry | 
|  | about nested subexpressions like (c+d) at all. | 
|  | </p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p> | 
|  | To start, an expression is a primary expression potentially followed by a | 
|  | sequence of [binop,primaryexpr] pairs:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* expression | 
|  | *   ::= primary binoprhs *) | 
|  | and parse_expr = parser | 
|  | | [< lhs=parse_primary; stream >] -> parse_bin_rhs 0 lhs stream | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p><tt>Parser.parse_bin_rhs</tt> is the function that parses the sequence of | 
|  | pairs for us.  It takes a precedence and a pointer to an expression for the part | 
|  | that has been parsed so far.   Note that "x" is a perfectly valid expression: As | 
|  | such, "binoprhs" is allowed to be empty, in which case it returns the expression | 
|  | that is passed into it. In our example above, the code passes the expression for | 
|  | "a" into <tt>Parser.parse_bin_rhs</tt> and the current token is "+".</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>The precedence value passed into <tt>Parser.parse_bin_rhs</tt> indicates the | 
|  | <em>minimal operator precedence</em> that the function is allowed to eat.  For | 
|  | example, if the current pair stream is [+, x] and <tt>Parser.parse_bin_rhs</tt> | 
|  | is passed in a precedence of 40, it will not consume any tokens (because the | 
|  | precedence of '+' is only 20).  With this in mind, <tt>Parser.parse_bin_rhs</tt> | 
|  | starts with:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* binoprhs | 
|  | *   ::= ('+' primary)* *) | 
|  | and parse_bin_rhs expr_prec lhs stream = | 
|  | match Stream.peek stream with | 
|  | (* If this is a binop, find its precedence. *) | 
|  | | Some (Token.Kwd c) when Hashtbl.mem binop_precedence c -> | 
|  | let token_prec = precedence c in | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* If this is a binop that binds at least as tightly as the current binop, | 
|  | * consume it, otherwise we are done. *) | 
|  | if token_prec < expr_prec then lhs else begin | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>This code gets the precedence of the current token and checks to see if if is | 
|  | too low.  Because we defined invalid tokens to have a precedence of -1, this | 
|  | check implicitly knows that the pair-stream ends when the token stream runs out | 
|  | of binary operators.  If this check succeeds, we know that the token is a binary | 
|  | operator and that it will be included in this expression:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* Eat the binop. *) | 
|  | Stream.junk stream; | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Okay, we know this is a binop. *) | 
|  | let rhs = | 
|  | match Stream.peek stream with | 
|  | | Some (Token.Kwd c2) -> | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>As such, this code eats (and remembers) the binary operator and then parses | 
|  | the primary expression that follows.  This builds up the whole pair, the first of | 
|  | which is [+, b] for the running example.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>Now that we parsed the left-hand side of an expression and one pair of the | 
|  | RHS sequence, we have to decide which way the expression associates.  In | 
|  | particular, we could have "(a+b) binop unparsed"  or "a + (b binop unparsed)". | 
|  | To determine this, we look ahead at "binop" to determine its precedence and | 
|  | compare it to BinOp's precedence (which is '+' in this case):</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* If BinOp binds less tightly with rhs than the operator after | 
|  | * rhs, let the pending operator take rhs as its lhs. *) | 
|  | let next_prec = precedence c2 in | 
|  | if token_prec < next_prec | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>If the precedence of the binop to the right of "RHS" is lower or equal to the | 
|  | precedence of our current operator, then we know that the parentheses associate | 
|  | as "(a+b) binop ...".  In our example, the current operator is "+" and the next | 
|  | operator is "+", we know that they have the same precedence.  In this case we'll | 
|  | create the AST node for "a+b", and then continue parsing:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | ... if body omitted ... | 
|  | in | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Merge lhs/rhs. *) | 
|  | let lhs = Ast.Binary (c, lhs, rhs) in | 
|  | parse_bin_rhs expr_prec lhs stream | 
|  | end | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>In our example above, this will turn "a+b+" into "(a+b)" and execute the next | 
|  | iteration of the loop, with "+" as the current token.  The code above will eat, | 
|  | remember, and parse "(c+d)" as the primary expression, which makes the | 
|  | current pair equal to [+, (c+d)].  It will then evaluate the 'if' conditional above with | 
|  | "*" as the binop to the right of the primary.  In this case, the precedence of "*" is | 
|  | higher than the precedence of "+" so the if condition will be entered.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>The critical question left here is "how can the if condition parse the right | 
|  | hand side in full"?  In particular, to build the AST correctly for our example, | 
|  | it needs to get all of "(c+d)*e*f" as the RHS expression variable.  The code to | 
|  | do this is surprisingly simple (code from the above two blocks duplicated for | 
|  | context):</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | match Stream.peek stream with | 
|  | | Some (Token.Kwd c2) -> | 
|  | (* If BinOp binds less tightly with rhs than the operator after | 
|  | * rhs, let the pending operator take rhs as its lhs. *) | 
|  | if token_prec < precedence c2 | 
|  | then <b>parse_bin_rhs (token_prec + 1) rhs stream</b> | 
|  | else rhs | 
|  | | _ -> rhs | 
|  | in | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Merge lhs/rhs. *) | 
|  | let lhs = Ast.Binary (c, lhs, rhs) in | 
|  | parse_bin_rhs expr_prec lhs stream | 
|  | end | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>At this point, we know that the binary operator to the RHS of our primary | 
|  | has higher precedence than the binop we are currently parsing.  As such, we know | 
|  | that any sequence of pairs whose operators are all higher precedence than "+" | 
|  | should be parsed together and returned as "RHS".  To do this, we recursively | 
|  | invoke the <tt>Parser.parse_bin_rhs</tt> function specifying "token_prec+1" as | 
|  | the minimum precedence required for it to continue.  In our example above, this | 
|  | will cause it to return the AST node for "(c+d)*e*f" as RHS, which is then set | 
|  | as the RHS of the '+' expression.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>Finally, on the next iteration of the while loop, the "+g" piece is parsed | 
|  | and added to the AST.  With this little bit of code (14 non-trivial lines), we | 
|  | correctly handle fully general binary expression parsing in a very elegant way. | 
|  | This was a whirlwind tour of this code, and it is somewhat subtle.  I recommend | 
|  | running through it with a few tough examples to see how it works. | 
|  | </p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>This wraps up handling of expressions.  At this point, we can point the | 
|  | parser at an arbitrary token stream and build an expression from it, stopping | 
|  | at the first token that is not part of the expression.  Next up we need to | 
|  | handle function definitions, etc.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  | <h2><a name="parsertop">Parsing the Rest</a></h2> | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p> | 
|  | The next thing missing is handling of function prototypes.  In Kaleidoscope, | 
|  | these are used both for 'extern' function declarations as well as function body | 
|  | definitions.  The code to do this is straight-forward and not very interesting | 
|  | (once you've survived expressions): | 
|  | </p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* prototype | 
|  | *   ::= id '(' id* ')' *) | 
|  | let parse_prototype = | 
|  | let rec parse_args accumulator = parser | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Ident id; e=parse_args (id::accumulator) >] -> e | 
|  | | [< >] -> accumulator | 
|  | in | 
|  |  | 
|  | parser | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Ident id; | 
|  | 'Token.Kwd '(' ?? "expected '(' in prototype"; | 
|  | args=parse_args []; | 
|  | 'Token.Kwd ')' ?? "expected ')' in prototype" >] -> | 
|  | (* success. *) | 
|  | Ast.Prototype (id, Array.of_list (List.rev args)) | 
|  |  | 
|  | | [< >] -> | 
|  | raise (Stream.Error "expected function name in prototype") | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>Given this, a function definition is very simple, just a prototype plus | 
|  | an expression to implement the body:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* definition ::= 'def' prototype expression *) | 
|  | let parse_definition = parser | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Def; p=parse_prototype; e=parse_expr >] -> | 
|  | Ast.Function (p, e) | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>In addition, we support 'extern' to declare functions like 'sin' and 'cos' as | 
|  | well as to support forward declaration of user functions.  These 'extern's are just | 
|  | prototypes with no body:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (*  external ::= 'extern' prototype *) | 
|  | let parse_extern = parser | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Extern; e=parse_prototype >] -> e | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>Finally, we'll also let the user type in arbitrary top-level expressions and | 
|  | evaluate them on the fly.  We will handle this by defining anonymous nullary | 
|  | (zero argument) functions for them:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* toplevelexpr ::= expression *) | 
|  | let parse_toplevel = parser | 
|  | | [< e=parse_expr >] -> | 
|  | (* Make an anonymous proto. *) | 
|  | Ast.Function (Ast.Prototype ("", [||]), e) | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>Now that we have all the pieces, let's build a little driver that will let us | 
|  | actually <em>execute</em> this code we've built!</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  | <h2><a name="driver">The Driver</a></h2> | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>The driver for this simply invokes all of the parsing pieces with a top-level | 
|  | dispatch loop.  There isn't much interesting here, so I'll just include the | 
|  | top-level loop.  See <a href="#code">below</a> for full code in the "Top-Level | 
|  | Parsing" section.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (* top ::= definition | external | expression | ';' *) | 
|  | let rec main_loop stream = | 
|  | match Stream.peek stream with | 
|  | | None -> () | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* ignore top-level semicolons. *) | 
|  | | Some (Token.Kwd ';') -> | 
|  | Stream.junk stream; | 
|  | main_loop stream | 
|  |  | 
|  | | Some token -> | 
|  | begin | 
|  | try match token with | 
|  | | Token.Def -> | 
|  | ignore(Parser.parse_definition stream); | 
|  | print_endline "parsed a function definition."; | 
|  | | Token.Extern -> | 
|  | ignore(Parser.parse_extern stream); | 
|  | print_endline "parsed an extern."; | 
|  | | _ -> | 
|  | (* Evaluate a top-level expression into an anonymous function. *) | 
|  | ignore(Parser.parse_toplevel stream); | 
|  | print_endline "parsed a top-level expr"; | 
|  | with Stream.Error s -> | 
|  | (* Skip token for error recovery. *) | 
|  | Stream.junk stream; | 
|  | print_endline s; | 
|  | end; | 
|  | print_string "ready> "; flush stdout; | 
|  | main_loop stream | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>The most interesting part of this is that we ignore top-level semicolons. | 
|  | Why is this, you ask?  The basic reason is that if you type "4 + 5" at the | 
|  | command line, the parser doesn't know whether that is the end of what you will type | 
|  | or not.  For example, on the next line you could type "def foo..." in which case | 
|  | 4+5 is the end of a top-level expression.  Alternatively you could type "* 6", | 
|  | which would continue the expression.  Having top-level semicolons allows you to | 
|  | type "4+5;", and the parser will know you are done.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  | <h2><a name="conclusions">Conclusions</a></h2> | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>With just under 300 lines of commented code (240 lines of non-comment, | 
|  | non-blank code), we fully defined our minimal language, including a lexer, | 
|  | parser, and AST builder.  With this done, the executable will validate | 
|  | Kaleidoscope code and tell us if it is grammatically invalid.  For | 
|  | example, here is a sample interaction:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | $ <b>./toy.byte</b> | 
|  | ready> <b>def foo(x y) x+foo(y, 4.0);</b> | 
|  | Parsed a function definition. | 
|  | ready> <b>def foo(x y) x+y y;</b> | 
|  | Parsed a function definition. | 
|  | Parsed a top-level expr | 
|  | ready> <b>def foo(x y) x+y );</b> | 
|  | Parsed a function definition. | 
|  | Error: unknown token when expecting an expression | 
|  | ready> <b>extern sin(a);</b> | 
|  | ready> Parsed an extern | 
|  | ready> <b>^D</b> | 
|  | $ | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>There is a lot of room for extension here.  You can define new AST nodes, | 
|  | extend the language in many ways, etc.  In the <a href="OCamlLangImpl3.html"> | 
|  | next installment</a>, we will describe how to generate LLVM Intermediate | 
|  | Representation (IR) from the AST.</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  | <h2><a name="code">Full Code Listing</a></h2> | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p> | 
|  | Here is the complete code listing for this and the previous chapter. | 
|  | Note that it is fully self-contained: you don't need LLVM or any external | 
|  | libraries at all for this.  (Besides the ocaml standard libraries, of | 
|  | course.)  To build this, just compile with:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <div class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | # Compile | 
|  | ocamlbuild toy.byte | 
|  | # Run | 
|  | ./toy.byte | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <p>Here is the code:</p> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <dl> | 
|  | <dt>_tags:</dt> | 
|  | <dd class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | <{lexer,parser}.ml>: use_camlp4, pp(camlp4of) | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </dd> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <dt>token.ml:</dt> | 
|  | <dd class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (*===----------------------------------------------------------------------=== | 
|  | * Lexer Tokens | 
|  | *===----------------------------------------------------------------------===*) | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* The lexer returns these 'Kwd' if it is an unknown character, otherwise one of | 
|  | * these others for known things. *) | 
|  | type token = | 
|  | (* commands *) | 
|  | | Def | Extern | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* primary *) | 
|  | | Ident of string | Number of float | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* unknown *) | 
|  | | Kwd of char | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </dd> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <dt>lexer.ml:</dt> | 
|  | <dd class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (*===----------------------------------------------------------------------=== | 
|  | * Lexer | 
|  | *===----------------------------------------------------------------------===*) | 
|  |  | 
|  | let rec lex = parser | 
|  | (* Skip any whitespace. *) | 
|  | | [< ' (' ' | '\n' | '\r' | '\t'); stream >] -> lex stream | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* identifier: [a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9] *) | 
|  | | [< ' ('A' .. 'Z' | 'a' .. 'z' as c); stream >] -> | 
|  | let buffer = Buffer.create 1 in | 
|  | Buffer.add_char buffer c; | 
|  | lex_ident buffer stream | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* number: [0-9.]+ *) | 
|  | | [< ' ('0' .. '9' as c); stream >] -> | 
|  | let buffer = Buffer.create 1 in | 
|  | Buffer.add_char buffer c; | 
|  | lex_number buffer stream | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Comment until end of line. *) | 
|  | | [< ' ('#'); stream >] -> | 
|  | lex_comment stream | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Otherwise, just return the character as its ascii value. *) | 
|  | | [< 'c; stream >] -> | 
|  | [< 'Token.Kwd c; lex stream >] | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* end of stream. *) | 
|  | | [< >] -> [< >] | 
|  |  | 
|  | and lex_number buffer = parser | 
|  | | [< ' ('0' .. '9' | '.' as c); stream >] -> | 
|  | Buffer.add_char buffer c; | 
|  | lex_number buffer stream | 
|  | | [< stream=lex >] -> | 
|  | [< 'Token.Number (float_of_string (Buffer.contents buffer)); stream >] | 
|  |  | 
|  | and lex_ident buffer = parser | 
|  | | [< ' ('A' .. 'Z' | 'a' .. 'z' | '0' .. '9' as c); stream >] -> | 
|  | Buffer.add_char buffer c; | 
|  | lex_ident buffer stream | 
|  | | [< stream=lex >] -> | 
|  | match Buffer.contents buffer with | 
|  | | "def" -> [< 'Token.Def; stream >] | 
|  | | "extern" -> [< 'Token.Extern; stream >] | 
|  | | id -> [< 'Token.Ident id; stream >] | 
|  |  | 
|  | and lex_comment = parser | 
|  | | [< ' ('\n'); stream=lex >] -> stream | 
|  | | [< 'c; e=lex_comment >] -> e | 
|  | | [< >] -> [< >] | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </dd> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <dt>ast.ml:</dt> | 
|  | <dd class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (*===----------------------------------------------------------------------=== | 
|  | * Abstract Syntax Tree (aka Parse Tree) | 
|  | *===----------------------------------------------------------------------===*) | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* expr - Base type for all expression nodes. *) | 
|  | type expr = | 
|  | (* variant for numeric literals like "1.0". *) | 
|  | | Number of float | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* variant for referencing a variable, like "a". *) | 
|  | | Variable of string | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* variant for a binary operator. *) | 
|  | | Binary of char * expr * expr | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* variant for function calls. *) | 
|  | | Call of string * expr array | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* proto - This type represents the "prototype" for a function, which captures | 
|  | * its name, and its argument names (thus implicitly the number of arguments the | 
|  | * function takes). *) | 
|  | type proto = Prototype of string * string array | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* func - This type represents a function definition itself. *) | 
|  | type func = Function of proto * expr | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </dd> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <dt>parser.ml:</dt> | 
|  | <dd class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (*===---------------------------------------------------------------------=== | 
|  | * Parser | 
|  | *===---------------------------------------------------------------------===*) | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* binop_precedence - This holds the precedence for each binary operator that is | 
|  | * defined *) | 
|  | let binop_precedence:(char, int) Hashtbl.t = Hashtbl.create 10 | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* precedence - Get the precedence of the pending binary operator token. *) | 
|  | let precedence c = try Hashtbl.find binop_precedence c with Not_found -> -1 | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* primary | 
|  | *   ::= identifier | 
|  | *   ::= numberexpr | 
|  | *   ::= parenexpr *) | 
|  | let rec parse_primary = parser | 
|  | (* numberexpr ::= number *) | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Number n >] -> Ast.Number n | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* parenexpr ::= '(' expression ')' *) | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Kwd '('; e=parse_expr; 'Token.Kwd ')' ?? "expected ')'" >] -> e | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* identifierexpr | 
|  | *   ::= identifier | 
|  | *   ::= identifier '(' argumentexpr ')' *) | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Ident id; stream >] -> | 
|  | let rec parse_args accumulator = parser | 
|  | | [< e=parse_expr; stream >] -> | 
|  | begin parser | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Kwd ','; e=parse_args (e :: accumulator) >] -> e | 
|  | | [< >] -> e :: accumulator | 
|  | end stream | 
|  | | [< >] -> accumulator | 
|  | in | 
|  | let rec parse_ident id = parser | 
|  | (* Call. *) | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Kwd '('; | 
|  | args=parse_args []; | 
|  | 'Token.Kwd ')' ?? "expected ')'">] -> | 
|  | Ast.Call (id, Array.of_list (List.rev args)) | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Simple variable ref. *) | 
|  | | [< >] -> Ast.Variable id | 
|  | in | 
|  | parse_ident id stream | 
|  |  | 
|  | | [< >] -> raise (Stream.Error "unknown token when expecting an expression.") | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* binoprhs | 
|  | *   ::= ('+' primary)* *) | 
|  | and parse_bin_rhs expr_prec lhs stream = | 
|  | match Stream.peek stream with | 
|  | (* If this is a binop, find its precedence. *) | 
|  | | Some (Token.Kwd c) when Hashtbl.mem binop_precedence c -> | 
|  | let token_prec = precedence c in | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* If this is a binop that binds at least as tightly as the current binop, | 
|  | * consume it, otherwise we are done. *) | 
|  | if token_prec < expr_prec then lhs else begin | 
|  | (* Eat the binop. *) | 
|  | Stream.junk stream; | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Parse the primary expression after the binary operator. *) | 
|  | let rhs = parse_primary stream in | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Okay, we know this is a binop. *) | 
|  | let rhs = | 
|  | match Stream.peek stream with | 
|  | | Some (Token.Kwd c2) -> | 
|  | (* If BinOp binds less tightly with rhs than the operator after | 
|  | * rhs, let the pending operator take rhs as its lhs. *) | 
|  | let next_prec = precedence c2 in | 
|  | if token_prec < next_prec | 
|  | then parse_bin_rhs (token_prec + 1) rhs stream | 
|  | else rhs | 
|  | | _ -> rhs | 
|  | in | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Merge lhs/rhs. *) | 
|  | let lhs = Ast.Binary (c, lhs, rhs) in | 
|  | parse_bin_rhs expr_prec lhs stream | 
|  | end | 
|  | | _ -> lhs | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* expression | 
|  | *   ::= primary binoprhs *) | 
|  | and parse_expr = parser | 
|  | | [< lhs=parse_primary; stream >] -> parse_bin_rhs 0 lhs stream | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* prototype | 
|  | *   ::= id '(' id* ')' *) | 
|  | let parse_prototype = | 
|  | let rec parse_args accumulator = parser | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Ident id; e=parse_args (id::accumulator) >] -> e | 
|  | | [< >] -> accumulator | 
|  | in | 
|  |  | 
|  | parser | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Ident id; | 
|  | 'Token.Kwd '(' ?? "expected '(' in prototype"; | 
|  | args=parse_args []; | 
|  | 'Token.Kwd ')' ?? "expected ')' in prototype" >] -> | 
|  | (* success. *) | 
|  | Ast.Prototype (id, Array.of_list (List.rev args)) | 
|  |  | 
|  | | [< >] -> | 
|  | raise (Stream.Error "expected function name in prototype") | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* definition ::= 'def' prototype expression *) | 
|  | let parse_definition = parser | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Def; p=parse_prototype; e=parse_expr >] -> | 
|  | Ast.Function (p, e) | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* toplevelexpr ::= expression *) | 
|  | let parse_toplevel = parser | 
|  | | [< e=parse_expr >] -> | 
|  | (* Make an anonymous proto. *) | 
|  | Ast.Function (Ast.Prototype ("", [||]), e) | 
|  |  | 
|  | (*  external ::= 'extern' prototype *) | 
|  | let parse_extern = parser | 
|  | | [< 'Token.Extern; e=parse_prototype >] -> e | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </dd> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <dt>toplevel.ml:</dt> | 
|  | <dd class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (*===----------------------------------------------------------------------=== | 
|  | * Top-Level parsing and JIT Driver | 
|  | *===----------------------------------------------------------------------===*) | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* top ::= definition | external | expression | ';' *) | 
|  | let rec main_loop stream = | 
|  | match Stream.peek stream with | 
|  | | None -> () | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* ignore top-level semicolons. *) | 
|  | | Some (Token.Kwd ';') -> | 
|  | Stream.junk stream; | 
|  | main_loop stream | 
|  |  | 
|  | | Some token -> | 
|  | begin | 
|  | try match token with | 
|  | | Token.Def -> | 
|  | ignore(Parser.parse_definition stream); | 
|  | print_endline "parsed a function definition."; | 
|  | | Token.Extern -> | 
|  | ignore(Parser.parse_extern stream); | 
|  | print_endline "parsed an extern."; | 
|  | | _ -> | 
|  | (* Evaluate a top-level expression into an anonymous function. *) | 
|  | ignore(Parser.parse_toplevel stream); | 
|  | print_endline "parsed a top-level expr"; | 
|  | with Stream.Error s -> | 
|  | (* Skip token for error recovery. *) | 
|  | Stream.junk stream; | 
|  | print_endline s; | 
|  | end; | 
|  | print_string "ready> "; flush stdout; | 
|  | main_loop stream | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </dd> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <dt>toy.ml:</dt> | 
|  | <dd class="doc_code"> | 
|  | <pre> | 
|  | (*===----------------------------------------------------------------------=== | 
|  | * Main driver code. | 
|  | *===----------------------------------------------------------------------===*) | 
|  |  | 
|  | let main () = | 
|  | (* Install standard binary operators. | 
|  | * 1 is the lowest precedence. *) | 
|  | Hashtbl.add Parser.binop_precedence '<' 10; | 
|  | Hashtbl.add Parser.binop_precedence '+' 20; | 
|  | Hashtbl.add Parser.binop_precedence '-' 20; | 
|  | Hashtbl.add Parser.binop_precedence '*' 40;    (* highest. *) | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Prime the first token. *) | 
|  | print_string "ready> "; flush stdout; | 
|  | let stream = Lexer.lex (Stream.of_channel stdin) in | 
|  |  | 
|  | (* Run the main "interpreter loop" now. *) | 
|  | Toplevel.main_loop stream; | 
|  | ;; | 
|  |  | 
|  | main () | 
|  | </pre> | 
|  | </dd> | 
|  | </dl> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <a href="OCamlLangImpl3.html">Next: Implementing Code Generation to LLVM IR</a> | 
|  | </div> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <!-- *********************************************************************** --> | 
|  | <hr> | 
|  | <address> | 
|  | <a href="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/check/referer"><img | 
|  | src="http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/images/vcss" alt="Valid CSS!"></a> | 
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|  | src="http://www.w3.org/Icons/valid-html401" alt="Valid HTML 4.01!"></a> | 
|  |  | 
|  | <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a> | 
|  | <a href="mailto:erickt@users.sourceforge.net">Erick Tryzelaar</a><br> | 
|  | <a href="http://llvm.org/">The LLVM Compiler Infrastructure</a><br> | 
|  | Last modified: $Date: 2011-04-22 20:30:22 -0400 (Fri, 22 Apr 2011) $ | 
|  | </address> | 
|  | </body> | 
|  | </html> |