© 1967 by British Computer Society
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Some proposals for SNAP, a language with formal macro facilities
Dept. of Computer Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
This paper describes some proposals to apply the full power of the Compiler Compiler to an ALGOL-like base language, to provide an extendable language system that is one-pass and produces efficient object code. At its simplest SNAP permits easily defined "formal macros" which allow conventional routine calls to be coded as open sequences tailor-made to the actual parameters. The paper discusses the problems created by this facility, in particular to ensure efficient code. It finishes with an illustration of the more powerful "informal macros" which use phrase structure notation in the routine headings and Compiler Compiler instructions in the routine bodies.
* Dept. of Computer Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, 13.