Mímico: a monadic combinator parser generator

Abstract

This article describes a compiler generator, called Mímico, that outputs code based on the use of monadic combinators. Mímico can parse infinite look-ahead and left-recursive context free grammars and defines a scheme for handling the precedence and associativity of binary infix operators, and monadic code in semantic rules. Mímico provides an easy way of specifying the syntax and semantics of languages, and generates readable output in the form of Haskell programs. The article presents Mímico's general principles, its formal syntax and semantics, its limitations and illustrative examples of its behaviour.