OS/2 Shareware BBS: 16 Announce/16-Announce.zip/ssprss.txt

Text File | 1994-12-17 | 7KB | 161 lines

SandStone Technology Inc. is now a member of the OS2AVEN
'Other Vendors' section.

This article contains the press release for a new development
tool called Visual Parse++. The press release is followed
by some technical information.

You can download a demo of Visual Parse++ in this section.
If you have any questions, post them here using 71332,2577
as the user id.

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SANDSTONE TECHNOLOGY INC.
70 Tidwell Lane
Henderson NV, 89014
[phone] (Voice)
[phone] (Fax)
[phone] (Voice)

Contact: Bill Donahue
CIS: 71332,2577
Internet: [e-mail]

Visual Parse++ - New Visual Programming Tool Slashes up to
90% of Development Time From Common Tasks

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, November 30, 1994

  Hendserson -- Software developers can save up to
90% of the time needed for many common programming tasks
with a new type of visual programming tool from SandStone
Technology Inc.
  Visual Parse++ brings visual programming technology
to parsing techniques -- programming methods used to
manipulate and control information.
  Parsing technology has traditionally been restricted to
compilers and interpreters because of the difficulty in
using such existing parsing tools as the Unix utility
yacc, or its derivatives.
  With Visual Parse++, developers can use parsing
technology for end user commands, protocols, data file
structures, as well as the traditional compiler and
interpreter applications. Visual Parse++ even makes
parsing economical for such small tasks as edit field
validators, user parameter files, scripting, tagged data,
formatted files, and data filters.
  "Developers can gain enormous productivity through
visual programming," explained SandStone Technology president,
Bill Donahue, "but the technology has been mostly
restricted to GUI design and object oriented development.
We hope to expand development efficiency through new types
of tools."
  Visual Parse++ works by creating tables and a skeleton
application for a developer from a specification. Because
of this, it is programming language and platform independent.
Support for C, C++, and REXX is currently included.
  While presently shipping for OS/2, a Windows version of
Visual Parse++ is planned for the first quarter of 1995.
SandStone Technology is also considering an AIX version.
  "Because of the tools we used in creating the OS/2 version,
we anticipate that the AIX port will be easy. Our first
goal, however, is to finish the Windows version,"
  "By the second quarter of 95, we will have support for UNIX
as well. This is the first cross platform, multi-programming
language tool of its kind. This should lead to the
standardization of programming languages and other file formats.
This is true even across national boundaries, as Visual
Parse++ supports DBCS and Unicode," said Donahue.
  Visual Parse++ is available directly from SandStone
Technology. While the list price for the OS/2 version is $699,
there is an introductory special of $299 until February 28,
1995.

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Here is a more technical description of the product. First the
user interface.

You define your 'language' in a specification (a rule file in
Visual Parse++ terminology) that uses a familiar regular
expression and BNF-like notation. You then rigorously debug
the entire specification while you watch. The test data
enters from the right, and moves across the screen from
right to left at each STEP. This gives you a clear visual
indication of where you are in the given test file.

As things occur, they are highlighted. Some of the things
you see are:

1.Regular expression matches (very detailed, you see the
actual point in each regular expression.)

2.The current lookahead symbol, built up as the data is
lexed.

3.The parsing stack.

4.Production reductions. When a production is reduced it
is highlighted, and the associated stack elements are also
highlighted.

5.Errors and error recovery.

6.Conflicts. You can test a rule file with conflicts. When
a conflict occurs, the productions are highlighted. You
resolve the conflict with a mouse click. Very useful,
especially when just starting out.

Here are some of the advanced features of the lexing and
parsing engines:

1.An expression list stack. You can define multiple expession
lists and push and pop them as regular expressions are matched.
Very clean and more powerful than start states.

2.Advanced error recovery, called synchronization tokens, as
well as error tokens. You imbed synchronization tokens (%) in
the grammar at points where recovery is likely to succeed.
Synchronization tokens do not change the grammar in any way,
except to synchronize error recovery. Error tokens are also
supported. When an error occurs, Visual Parse++ searches the
stack (the current context) for any symbols that can follow
either a sync token or an error token. It then scans the input
looking for a matching token. When one is found, the stack
is popped until the current symbol is valid.

3.Unicode and DBCS support. Any 32-bit quantity can be used
as a code point in a regular expression.

4.Programming language and platform independence. There is
a well architected API for each language supported. Visual
Parse++ generates a 'reduce' function for each language.
This is where you put all your code. In C or C++, the 'reduce'
function is a switch statement with a case for each production.
There are easy to use functions to access and pass information
on the stack. You can also customize stack elements to
your liking. In C++, this is done by subclassing the class
SSYaccStackElement. We supply a library, or equivalent,
for all programming languages that we support.

5.Because the lexing and parsing process is encapsulated
in an API, you can add as many lexers and/or parsers as you
wish to any application, including DLL's.

6.The parser generator uses the most advanced algorithms,
(Park, Chang, Choe), for superior performance (We also
tried DeRemmer and Ives, but PCC was the best). Can handle
any size grammar.

7.The tables generated are very compact, on the order
of the size of the lexer/parser (For a small edit field
validator, maybe 100 bytes or so).

Visual Parse++ can be used for many, many applications
that you may not have considered before, like edit field
validators and list box data filters. Why use a specialized
ad-hoc tool when you have the full power of lexing and/or
parsing technology available.