Translation of APL to other high-level languages

Abstract

The thesis describes a method of translating the computer language APL to other high-level languages. Particular reference is made to FORTRAN, a language widely available to computer users. Although gaining in popularity, APL is not at present so readily available, and the main aim of the translation process is to enable the more desirable features of APL to be at the disposal of a far greater number of users. The translation process should also speed up the running of routines, since compilation in general leads to greater efficiency than interpretive techniques. Some inefficiencies of the APL language have been removed by the translation process. The above reasons for translating APL to other high-level languages are discussed in the introduction to the thesis. A description of the method of translation forms the main part of the thesis. The APL input code is first lexically scanned, a process whereby the subsequent phases are greatly simplified. An intermediate code form is produced in which bracketing is used to group operators and operands together, and to assign priorities to operators such that sub-expressions will be handled in the correct order. By scanning the intermediate code form, information is stacked until required later. The information is used to make possible a process of macro expansion. Each of the above processes is discussed in the main text of the thesis. The format of all information which can or must be supplied at translation time is clearly outlined in the text.