# Ruby tools to develop compilers **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [March 2, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-tools-to-develop-compilers/130724 "2008-03-02T17:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Le_Lann_Jean-Christ)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-tools-to-develop-compilers/130724/1 "2008-03-02T17:37:10Z")
Hi, For some days now, I have been trying to find the best Ruby tools to develop compilers : lexer, parser and possibly more (ast, visitor). There seems to be plenty of small tools, but it is difficult to know whether they are mature or not. So I would like to have feeback on your own experience in this field. Thanks JC ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Le_Lann_Jean-Christ)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-tools-to-develop-compilers/130724/2 "2008-03-02T21:09:10Z")
Le Lann Jean-Christophe wrote: > Thanks > JC It depends more on the scope of the compiler(s), languages, operating systems where the compilers will run, etc., then it does on the “tools”. If you’re looking for a highly portable compiler for a variety of architectures and operating systems, for example, you’re probably better off building a front end for the languages to the GCC intermediate and code generation pieces. And if you’re building a compiler for a language already handled by GCC, the best advice I can give you is, “don’t bother”. That said, the Ruby _parser_ that seems to have the best user interface is Treetop. I’ve only done a couple of small things in it, but it’s a lot easier to read Treetop code than it is to read, say, racc. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Le_Lann_Jean-Christ)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 7:19am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-tools-to-develop-compilers/130724/3 "2008-03-03T07:19:11Z")
> BTW, please share your finds! I agree! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Le_Lann_Jean-Christ)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-tools-to-develop-compilers/130724/4 "2008-03-03T20:42:29Z")
fedzor a écrit : > BTW, please share your finds! Well, ok. ‘Plenty’ is not the right word, nor ‘small tools’ (I guess) RACC ANTLR (ruby generator) Treetop Ruby-lex, Ruby- yacc Any other one ? Which one do you use ? Bye! JC ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Le_Lann_Jean-Christ)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-tools-to-develop-compilers/130724/5 "2008-03-03T03:42:03Z")
On Mar 2, 2008, at 11:36 AM, Le Lann Jean-Christophe wrote: > Hi, > > For some days now, I have been trying to find the best Ruby tools > to develop compilers : lexer, parser and possibly more (ast, visitor). > > There seems to be plenty of small tools, but it is difficult to > know whether they are mature or not. -\> ASM Compilers or interpreters? BTW, please share your finds! -------------------------------------------------------| ~ Ari Careful - I’m like Stallman with katanas! ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Le_Lann_Jean-Christ)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-tools-to-develop-compilers/130724/6 "2008-03-05T21:48:45Z")
On Mon, Mar 3, 2008 at 1:40 PM, Le Lann Jean-Christophe [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Ruby-lex isn’t a lexer written in Ruby usable for other grammars, it is a lexer for the ruby language itself. Treetop is by far the easiest to work with. Also not on your list, is ragel, which builds very fast state machines. Daniel Brumbaugh K. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Le_Lann_Jean-Christ)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 7:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-tools-to-develop-compilers/130724/7 "2008-03-08T19:41:57Z")
On 3/2/08, Le Lann Jean-Christophe [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hi, > > For some days now, I have been trying to find the best Ruby tools to > develop compilers : lexer, parser and possibly more (ast, visitor). > > There seems to be plenty of small tools, but it is difficult to know > whether they are mature or not. > > So I would like to have feeback on your own experience in this field. I’ll join the chorus for TreeTop: it’s pleasant to work with… though, it doesn’t produce the fastest parsers around. There’s also Ruby parsec if you want to go the parser combinator route: [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/JPARSEC/Ruby+Parsec](http://docs.codehaus.org/display/JPARSEC/Ruby+Parsec) I have not played with it, though. Phil ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Le_Lann_Jean-Christ)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-tools-to-develop-compilers/130724/8 "2008-03-08T19:10:48Z")
On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 2:47 PM, Daniel Brumbaugh K. wrote: > Ruby-lex isn’t a lexer written in Ruby usable for other grammars, it > is a lexer for the ruby language itself. Please forgive my error, I was thinking of the RubyLex class included in IRB. It appears there is a project of the same name that can be found at the links below. To add to the confusion, RubyLex files end in .rl, the same as Ragel. For the education of this mailing list, I’ve copied the introduction of its README. Lexical analyzer generator V1.3 by Harald Grosse. This extension adds to ruby a functionality to work with lex for C programs as well as for ruby Code. It reads the grammar specification, modify the code so that lex accepted the ruby elements, compile this code with flex to lex.yy.c and build an comparable Ruby coded analayzer from this file. Not all features of lex are implemented. [http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/ruby-lex/](http://raa.ruby-lang.org/project/ruby-lex/) [http://www.less.de/download/ruby-lex-1.4.tgz](http://www.less.de/download/ruby-lex-1.4.tgz) Daniel Brumbaugh K. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Le\_Lann\_Jean-Christ](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Le_Lann_Jean-Christ)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/ruby-tools-to-develop-compilers/130724/9 "2008-03-09T13:33:34Z")
Phil T. a écrit : > There’s also Ruby parsec if you want to go the parser combinator route: > [http://docs.codehaus.org/display/JPARSEC/Ruby+Parsec](http://docs.codehaus.org/display/JPARSEC/Ruby+Parsec) > I have not played with it, though. Thanks all for your answers, Regarding TreeTop, there is a tutorial by its author at [http://rubyconf2007.confreaks.com/d1t1p5\_treetop.html](http://rubyconf2007.confreaks.com/d1t1p5_treetop.html). My preference goes to Treetop too, because it seems elegant and based on efficient algorithms. (I will give my own feedback on real grammars, when ready) Nobody is using Antlr with Ruby output ? Antlr seemed great because it gives you access to a bunch of various grammars, already described. Regards, JC