Prolog in practical compiler writing

Abstract

We discuss the experiences gained with implementing the programming language Edison in Prolog. The evaluation of Prolog in this application area is based on a comparison with two other Edison compilers, one written in Pascal (procedural approach) and the other generated using the compiler writing systems PGS and GAG (declarative approach). The crucial hindrance to applying Prolog in practical compiler writing was found to be inefficiency of the standard Prologs. Conceptually, however, Prolog was found to be quite attractive and, as a combination of the procedural and declarative approaches, a promising candidate for the basis of a special compiler writing language that is currently under development.