Patent ID: 6353925
Filing Date: 2002-03-05
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A system for parsing annotations in a character stream representing a source program written in a computer programming-language, comprising:a central processing unit; a memory; at least one bus connecting the central processing unit and the memory; the memory storing a lexer, a back-end, and a parser: the lexer for generating tokens based upon the programming-language statements present in the character stream, detecting the annotations of the character stream, passing the detected annotations to the back-end, receiving annotation tokens from the back-end, and passing both the tokens and the annotation tokens to the parser; the back-end including a plurality of annotation processors, for processing annotations received from the lexer into annotation tokens, and a plurality of tools, for processing a primary abstract syntax tree received from the parser; wherein, for each annotation processor in the plurality of annotation processors, there is a corresponding tool in the plurality of tools; and the parser for receiving tokens and annotation tokens from the lexer and assembling the tokens and the annotation tokens into the primary abstract syntax tree, and for passing the assembled primary abstract syntax tree to the back-end.