John Shutt's Mostly Offline Sources

This paper defines Burshteyn's Modifiable Grammar formalism. A correction to one of the definitions appears in [Burs 92].

Burshteyn's metacompiler language, ostensibly based on his Modifiable Grammar formalism. Includes a correction to [Burs 90], and suggests a generalization to multipass parsing (in response to [Robe 91]).

A lucid articulation and advocacy of the principle of grammar adaptivity. Well thought out, and still worth reading.

Proposes a class of two-level grammars. The conference was held in Vienna in September of 1964.

One of two symposia on extensible languages; the other is [Schu 71].

Also appears as: datalogiske skrifter no. 1, Roskilde University Centre, 1985.

The original paper on Christiansen grammars. An oversight in the treatment of recursive structures is discussed in [Chri 88a].

An abridged version appears as: Henning Christiansen, ``Recognition of generative languages'', in H. Ganzinger and N. D. Jones, editors, Programs as Data Objects [Proceedings of a Workshop, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 17-19, 1985] [Lecture Notes in Computer Science 217], New York: Springer-Verlag, 1986, pp. 63-81.

Much more developed than the original paper, [Chri 85]. Uses the AG-based notation for Christiansen grammars, but a section re logic programming foreshadows the later development of the DCG-based notation.

Christiansen's licentiat thesis is made up of this and six other separate papers, including [Chri 85], [Chri 86], and [Chri 88a]. This is the one that ties all of them together.

Papers on adaptive grammars tend to be highly insular, rarely mentioning other work on the subject. This paper is an exception. It provides a refreshingly broad perspective on the subject, including a thoughtful (and candid) assessment of the formalisms surveyed, including Christiansen's own.

See remarks for [Chri 92b].

This work can be viewed in terms of meta-programs or adaptive grammars, depending mostly on whether one uses the word ``program'' or ``grammar''; the content is the same either way.

Christiansen has developed a very elegant generalized resolution method for logic meta-programming (roughly, automated proof of general statements about the possibility of proving statements under different sets of axioms).

The focus of the book is on W-grammars. The presentation is extremely lucid, which is remarkable for a treatment of W-grammars, especially when burdened with the old terminology. The treatment of the Chomsky hierarchy is also well done.

The notion of programming as language development is recommended. It may be less than conincidence that the programming language used as a framework for this volume is SIMULA.

The eminently readable classic work on reductionism. Introduces the word and concept of memes. Adds several chapters and copious informational endnotes to the original 1976 edition.

Proves the equivalence of attribute grammars and W-grammars.

Koster lumps attribute, affix, and W-grammars all into the class of ``two-level grammars''. In this paper, he underlines the point by applying each of three formalisms to the definition of a toy language. The three definitions are dramatically alike.

Koster was one of the signators of the Revised Report on ALGOL 68.

Proposes the notion of scientific paradigms. Written for scientists, it works very hard at debunking the myth of science as absolute truth, and doesn't bother to say certain very important things that all scientists already know. A science-nonliterate reader might come away with the impression that scientific theories have nothing to do with reality, which was not I think the author's intent.

The first edition was published in 1962.

See also [Watt 77].

Anyone planning to read this paper should be warned that Mason's style is rather opaque, sometimes bordering on the obtuse. Also, a number of significant details of the DTT formalism are missing or incomplete.

Criticizes Burshteyn's formalism as presented in [Burs 90], because it assumed that the parser would proceed from left to right in a single pass. Naturally, Burshteyn's response in [Burs 92] was to generalize his model to allow multipass parsing.

One of two symposia on extensible languages; the other is [Chri 69].

Includes [Katz 71].

Note that in my more recent work I have switched from the term adaptable, which I originally used for compatibility with [Chri 90], to the more technically accurate adaptive.

A retrospective survey of the subject, somewhat in the nature of a postmortem.

The original paper on extended attribute grammars.

Reprinted as: Ben Wegbreit, Studies in Extensible Programming Languages [Outstanding Dissertations in the Computer Sciences], New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1980.

The original paper on W-grammars.