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Write a syntax analyzer for the Jack language. Use it to parse all the .jack class files supplied below. For each input .jack file, your analyzer should generate an .xml output file. The generated files should be identical to the supplied compare-files, up to white space.

Chapter 10 includes a proposed, language-independent syntax analyzer API, which can serve as your implementation's blueprint. We propose implementing the syntax analyzer in two stages. First, write and test the Tokenizer module. Next, write and test the CompilationEngine module, which implements the parser described in the chapter.

​

Stage I: Tokenizer 
 

Tokenizing, a basic service of any syntax alayzer, is the act of breaking a given textual input into a stream of tokens. And while it is at it, the tokenizer can also classify the tokens into lexical categories. With that in mind, your first task it to implement, and test, the JackTokenizer module specified in chapter 10. Specifically, you have to develop (i) a Tokenizer implementation, and (ii) a test program that goes through a given input file (.jack file) and produces a stream of tokens using your Tokenizer implementation. Each token should be printed in a separate line, along with its classification: symbol, keyword, identifier, integer constant or string constant. Here is an example:

Source code (input)

Tokenizer output

if (x < 0) {

   let state = "negative";

}

Source code (input)

<tokens>

<keyword> if </keyword>

<symbol> ( </symbol>

<identifier> x </identifier>

<symbol> &lt; </symbol>

<integerConstant> 0 </integerConstant>

<symbol> ) </symbol>

<symbol> { </symbol>

<keyword> let </keyword>

<identifier> state </identifier>

<symbol> = </symbol>

<stringConstant> negative </stringConstant>

<symbol> ; </symbol>

<symbol> } </symbol>

</tokens>

Tokenizer output

Note that in the case of string constants, the tokenizer throws away the double-quote characters. This behavior is intended, and is part of our tokenizer specification.
 

Also note that four of the symbols used in the Jack language (<, >, ", and &) are also used for XML markup, and thus they cannot appear verbatim as XML data. To solve the problem, and following convention, we require the tokenizer to output these tokens as &lt;, &gt;, &quot;, and &amp;, respectively. For example, in order for the symbol "less than" to be displayed properly in a web browser, it should be generated as "<symbol>&lt;</symbol>".
 

Finally, note that unlike the Tokeinizer module, the tokenizer test program that you are to write is not part of the syntax analyzer. This test program entails an intermediate testing stage, focusing on unit-testing the Tokenizer only. Once this test is completed successfully, the test program is no longer necessary.
 

Stage II: Parser (CompilationEngine) 
 

In the context of this project, parsing is defined narrowly as the act of going over the tokenized input and rendering its grammatical structure using some agreed-upon format. The specific parser that we implement here is based on the Jack grammar, and is designed to emit XML output. Both the grammar and the agreed-upon XML tags are described in chapter 10. 

The Jack parser is implemented by the CompilationEngine module, whose API is given in chapter 10. Your task is to implement this API: write each one of the specified methods, and make sure that it emits the correct XML output. For the benefit of unit-testing, we recommend to begin by first writing a compilation engine that handles any given Jack code except for expressions; next, extend the compilation engine to handle expressions as well. The test programs supplied below are designed to support this staged testing strategy.

A natural way to test your syntax analyzer it is to have it parse some representative Jack programs. We supply two such test programs: Square Dance and Array Test. The former includes all the syntactic features of the Jack language except for array processing, which appears in the latter. We also provide an expression-less version of the Square Dance program, as explained below.
 

Square Dance: a simple interactive application, described in project 9. The implementation is organized in three classes:

Source class file

Description  (irrelevant to this project,
                        which deals with syntax)

Tokenizer output

Parser output

Main.jack

Sourced class file

Initializes and starts a new "square dance" session".

Description (quite irrelevant to this project)

MainT.xml

Tokenizer output

Parser output

Main.xml

Square.jack

Sourced class file

Implements an animated square. A Square object has a screen location and size properties, and methods for drawing, erasing,moving, and size changing.

Description (quite irrelevant to this project)

SquareT.xml

Tokenizer output

Square.xml

Parser output

SquareGame.jack

Sourced class file

Description (quite irrelevant to this project)

Runs the show according to the game rules.

Tokenizer output

SquareGameT.xml

Parser output

SquareGame.xml

Note: The three source Jack files comprising the Square Dance application are identical to those stored in the projects/09/Square directory. For completeness, an identical copy of these files is also available in the projects/10/Square directory.
 

Expressionless Square Dance: in this version of Square Dance, each expression in the original source code has been replaced with a single identifier (some variable name in scope). This version of the program was designed in order to facilitate unit-testing of your syntax analyzer's ability to parse everything except for expressions. Note that the replacement of expressions with variables has resulted in nonsensical code which, however, is grammatically correct. For convenience, the expressionless files have the same names as those of the original files, but they are stored in a separate projects/10/ExpressionlessSquare directory.
 

Array Test: a single-class Jack program designed to test how the syntax analyzer handles array processing:

Source class file

Main.jack

Source class file

Description  (irrelevant to this project,                                   which deals with syntax)

Computes the average of a user-supplied sequence of integers using an array data structure and array manipulation commands.

Description (quite irrelevant to this project)

Tokenizer output

Parser output

Tokenizer output

MainT.xml

Parser output

Main.xml

Experimenting with the test programs: if you want, you can compile the supplied SquareDance and TestArray programs using the supplied Jack compiler, then use the supplied VM emulator to run the compiled code. This activity is irrelevant to the current project. However, it serves to show that the test programs are not just plain text; they also have semantics, or meaning, something that the syntax analyzer does not care about.

Tokenizer Testing:
 

  • Test your tokenizer on the Square Dance and the TestArray programs.

  • For each Xxx.jack source file, have your tokenizer test program give the output file the name XxxT.xml. Apply your tokenizer test to each class file in the test programs, then use the supplied TextComparer utility to compare the generated output to the supplied .xml compare files.

  • Since the output files generated by your tokenizer test will have the same names and extensions as those of the supplied compare files, we suggest putting them in separate directories.
     

Parser Testing:
 

  • Apply your syntax analyzer to the supplied test programs, then use the supplied TextComparer utility to compare the generated output to the supplied .xml compare files.

  • Since the output files generated by your syntax analyzer will have the same names and extensions as those of the supplied compare files, we suggest putting them in separate directories.

  • Note that the indentation of the XML output is only for readability. Web browsers and the supplied TextComparer ignore white space.

© 2017 Shimon Schocken and Noam Nisan

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