Convenience Aspects

attribute foopp occurs on BarExpr;

aspect foopp on top::BarExpr of
| barInit1([],_) -> "emptyFoopp"
| barInit1(h::t,_) -> h ++ "Foopp" ++ top.hiddenAttr
| barInit2(h :: t,value) -> h ++ " and then " ++ toString(value)
| barInit3(_,val) -> toString(val) ++ top.hiddenAttr
| barInit4() -> "Foopp"
| _ -> top.hiddenAttr
end;

Convenience Aspects offer a means of defining aspect productions for a particular attribute in a much easier manner, using a more concise syntax.

Example:

To start with, here’s a small example. The following two code sections have the same semantics.

attribute foopp occurs on FooExpr;

aspect foopp on FooExpr of
| addfoo(l, _) -> "foo " ++ l.prettierprint
| subtractFoo(l,r) -> "foo " ++ l.prettierprint ++ "-" ++ r.prettierprint
| _ -> "default"
end;

attribute foopp occurs on FooExpr;

aspect production addfoo
top::FooExpr ::= l::FooExpr r::FooExpr
{
  top.foopp = "foo " ++ l.prettierprint;
}
aspect production subtractFoo
top::FooExpr ::= l::FooExpr r::FooExpr
{
  top.foopp = "foo " ++ l.prettierprint ++ "-" ++ r.prettierprint;
}
aspect default production
top::FooExpr ::=
{
  top.foopp = "default";
}

Specified in roughly similar manner as EBNF form. Using Convenience aspects involves constructing them with this syntax.

'aspect' <attr-name> 'on' [<custom-top-name>::]<type> ['using' ('<-' | ':=' | '=') ] 'of' '|' <match-rule-list> 'end' ';'

attr-name refers to the name of the attribute you want to define aspect productions for.

match-rule-list is a list of patterns constructed much like pattern matching. The subpatterns beneath them can be any valid pattern for pattern matching, but the pattern at the top should only be variable patterns (where you just provide a name),production patterns, or wildcard patterns only.

The term 'using' ('<-' | ':=' | '=') means that you can provide the operator that is used to assign to your new attribute. It defaults to = if you don’t provide this.

custom-top-name allows you to use other attributes from the production to define your attribute.

An example below demonstrates custom-top-name and using, where custom-top-name is set as “top”

Example:

synthesized attribute bagList :: [String] with ++ occurs on BazExpr;

aspect bagList on top::BazExpr using <- of
| bazInit2(h::t,value) -> [h, toString(value)]
| bazInit3(_,val) -> [top.hiddenAttr]
| bazInit4() -> explode(top.hiddenAttr,"\t")
| _ -> []
end;

You can also define your custom name using a name pattern, like so (the last pattern demonstrates this), but only for the default production will this one work.

synthesized attribute gAttribute :: String occurs on BazExpr;
aspect gAttribute on BazExpr of
    | bazInit2(h::t,value) -> h ++ toString(value)
    | bazInit3(_,val) -> toString(val)
    | coolName -> coolName.hiddenAttr
end;

Note that variable patterns and wildcard patterns can shadow other ones, as in the following, where the bazInit3(_,val) aspect production is not made, because the coolName varPattern shadows it.

aspect bagList2 on top::BazExpr using <- of
| bazInit2(h::t,value) -> [h, toString(value)]
| coolName -> coolName.hiddenAttr
| bazInit3(_,val) -> ["ignored", toString(val)]
end;