- Author: Friedrich Wilhelm Schröer
- Format: HTML, PDF
- Price: free
The GENTLE Compiler Construction System, originally designed in 1989 at the German National Research Center for Information Technolgy, is now in industrial use for fifteen years: The very first system was sold to Nixdorf Computers, who used it to implement their Combined Object-Oriented Language, a C++ alternative for large mission-critical projects, e.g. in the chemical industry. The first Gentle system in 2005 was sold to Ritlabs, creators of The Bat, a leading email client.
The GENTLE Compiler Construction System is available in two editions:
GENTLE 97 was published in 1997 together with the first edition of this manual (Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich and Vienna, 1997)
GENTLE 21 is distributed since 2001 by Metarga and is continuously maintained according to the requirements of its users
This manual covers the common functionality of both editions.
Chapters include:
- At a Glance
- Elements of Specifications
- Describing Data
- Describing Computations
- Describing Syntax
- Using Types and Predicates Written in C
- Handling Global Information
- Handling Mutable Information
- Control Structures
- Smart Traversal
- Optimal Rule Selection
- Special Patterns and Expressions
- A Summary of Predefined Predicates
- Organizing Larger Projects
- Getting Started
- Language Reference Manual
- Reflex Reference Manual
- Library Reference Manual
- Case Studies
