Language development toolchain

Contents

• IDE(DrRacket) - Modern with specific support macros and language development.
• The C Foreign Function Interface - to interface with stuff that isn't Racket
• Syntax Parse macros - Macro system with error messages
• Libraries - for language development
• Meta-DSL's - DSL's to support language development
• Lexers and Parsers - for supporting a variety of syntaxes

New:

• https://school.racket-lang.org/2019/plan/index.html
• https://soegaard.github.io/mythical-macros/
• http://rmculpepper.github.io/malr/index.html

IDE (DrRacket)

DrRacket includes support for multiple languages and supports extension to add more.

• Macro Stepper(Macro Debugger) to inspect Macro Expansion.

Extending DrRacket:

• Adding Languages to DrRacket

Other plugins for macro development

• Todo List DrRacket plugin 'intended for use with cooperating languages, especially statically typed languages and proof assistants'.
• ...

The C Foreign Function Interface

The ffi/unsafe library enables the direct use of C-based APIs within Racket programs—without writing any new C code. (e.g. The C FFI is how #lang video calls the ffmpeg.) (see also Embedding Racket in larger programs.)

• Tutorial: Using Racket’s FFI
• Foreign Interface for PLT Scheme by Eli Barzilay & Dmitry Orlovsky (pdf)
• FFI examples

Syntax Parse macros

• "syntax/parse helps you build robust embedded DSLs in minutes"
• syntax-parse-example Example macros, written using syntax/parse.
• Macros and Languages in Racket by Ryan Culpepper ryanc@racket-lang.org
• https://www2.ccs.neu.edu/racket/pubs/dissertation-culpepper.pdf

Libraries

libraries to aid languages construction

• Rebellion "Rebellion is a set of infrastructure libraries for Racketeers to build new languages, new frameworks, and new tools with."

Meta-DSL's

languages that can be used to create languages

• The turnstile language "[...]aims to help Racket programmers create typed languages. It does so with extensions of Racket’s macro-definition forms that facilitate implementation of type rules alongside normal macro code."
• #lang rosette to make a solver-aided domain-specific languages. See Growing Solver-Aided Languages with ROSETTE by Emina Torlak & Rastislav Bodik

Lexers and Parsers

• brag: a better Racket AST generator
• lex- and yacc-style lexer and parser generators supporting generating both LALR(1) Parsers and Context-Free Parsers with functionality to convert C-language yacc or bison grammars
• recursive descent parser 'The [Racket] Reader'
• PEG parser generator
• parsack, a Racket implementation of parsec, a parser combinator library
• megaparsack, another Racket implementation of parsec. Parsers generated by megaparsack take arbitrary tokens as input and can return syntax objects; parsack parsers' input is limited to text or bytes.

See also;

• Packages tagged ‘parser’
• Packages tagged ‘parsing’

Language Design Resources on language design

Example Languages Example languages built on or with the Racket toolchain