The Synthesizer Generator: A System for Constructing Language-Based Editors

This book is a detailed account of the Synthesizer Generator, a system for creat­ ing specialized editors that are customized for editing particular languages. The book is intended for those with an interest in software tools and in methods for building interactive systems. It is a must for people who are using the Syn­ thesizer Generator to build editors because it provides extensive discussions of how to write editor specifications. The book should also be valuable for people who are building specialized editors "by hand," without using an editor­ generating tool. The need to manage the development of large software systems is one of the most pressing problems faced by computer programmers. An important aspect of this problem is the design of new tools to aid interactive program develop­ ment. The Synthesizer Generator permits one to create specialized editors that are tailored for editing a particular language. In program editors built with the Synthesizer Generator, knowledge about the language is used to continuously assess whether a program contains errors and to determine where such errors occur. The information is then displayed on the terminal screen to provide feed­ back to the programmer as the program is developed and modified.