Detail CLR specification

Question

Hello I want to build an interpreter using .Net for some sort of high level language. As a result i need some detail information on .NET CLR(Common Language Runtime) and MSIL (Micro soft Intermediate Language) . I dont find any detail specification on those things but some brief infomation in MSDN. Does anybody know or have the CLR Specification ? Any suggesstion building an interpreter will be helpful Thanks

Tanvir Huda · Answer

Thanks for the suggesstion Can u provide me some example of the datastructure u are talking about. I am really in trouble with this as i have no prior knowledge building a compiler . THanks

andrew · Answer

If you're processing XML as your language you do not need to use any parser/lexer generator tools because .net already comes with libraries for processing XML files. Your first step should be to create your datastructes that mimic the program structure. classes: Program that holds Variables and Statements Variable holds type datatype name and value Statement - root class for other statements AssignmentStatment extends Statement - holds LValue and RValue Expression - root class for expressions BinaryExpression - holds LHS Operator and RHS VariableExpression - expression that references variable LiteralExpression - expression that is literal value then you write your logic to process XML and create the Program class with all statements. then you write processing logic that takes Program and processes it recursively. The processing part you can almost just copy/paste from my calculator example and it's independent of the language and only depends on AST (Program Statements Expression in your case)

Tanvir Huda · Answer

Hello Werdna Thank you once again . I know i am bugging you but i am really in trouble with this one . I hope u help me out in this regard. I have an Xml file which is an simple representation of an accumulator program. Now i want to build an interpreter that generates the output. PLease tell me the step that i should follow. as a experienced compiler designer i think u will give me some guideline. the xml file is as follows ======================= a b a a + b

andrew · Answer

The one I have on my website was just a way to test antlr and is a really small language. Antlr is a tool that given a grammar file (*.g file) it will generate parser/lexer for you. That's the first step. Create your grammar which will define syntax of the language. You can also have antlr create AST for you but I usually prefer to write my own so that it's more like the language I'm working with and easier to manipulate. Then you take your AST and process it depending on your language and how you want it work. For a compiler you next step most likely would be type-checker optimizer and code generator. For the simple interpreter I have I just interpreter the program directly on AST which makes it very simple.

Tanvir Huda · Answer

Thanks Werdna It will be helpful. Can u pls tell me what are the initial steps u take building the compiler/interpreter. What is the purpose of Antlr and what are the design goals of yours. H0w long it take you to build such a wonderful interpreter.

andrew · Answer

You don't really need CLR or MSIL docs to build interpreter. For an example you can look at my basic interpreter at http://www.adersoftware.com/?page=compilers If you do need to do the interpreter by converting to MSIL first there is a good book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0735615470/102-1807977-6402519?v=glance You can download CLI standard from: http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-335.htm