A general-purpose macro processor or general purpose preprocessor is a macro processor that is not tied to or integrated with a particular language or piece of software.
A macro processor is a program that copies a stream of text from one place to another, making a systematic set of replacements as it does so. Macro processors are often embedded in other programs, such as assemblers and compilers. Sometimes they are standalone programs that can be used to process any kind of text.
Macro processors have been used for language expansion (defining new language constructs that can be expressed in terms of existing language components), for systematic text replacements that require decision making, and for text reformatting (e.g. conditional extraction of material from an HTML file).
Examples of general purpose macro processorsedit
Name
Year
Description
GPM
1960s
One of the earliest macro processors was GPM (the General Purpose Macrogenerator).[1] This was developed at the University of Cambridge, UK, in the mid 1960s, under the direction of Christopher Strachey.
ML/I
1960s
One particularly important general purpose macro processor was (and still is) ML/I (Macro Language One). This was developed as part of PhD research by a Cambridge postgraduate, Peter J. Brown. ML/I operates on a character stream, and requires no special format for its input, nor any special flag characters to introduce macros.
STAGE2
1960s
A contemporary of ML/I was STAGE2,[2] part of William Waite's Mobile Programming System.[3] This too is a general purpose macro processor, but it processes input a line at a time, matching each line against specified patterns; it is notable in that it is independent of character set, requiring only that the digits 0-9 are contiguous and in that order (a condition not met by some of the 6-bit and BCD character codes of the era).
SNOBOL is a string processing language which is capable of doing most of the pre-processing which can be done by a macro processor.
XPOP
XPOP was another attempt at a general macro processing language by Mark Halpern at IBM in the 1960s.
TTM
1968
TTM is a recursive, interpretive language designed primarily for string manipulation, text editing, macro definition and expansion, and other applications generally classified as systems programming. It was developed in 1968 by Steven Caine and E. Kent Gordon at the California Institute of Technology. It is derived, primarily, from GAP[5] and GPM.[1]
GMP
1970s
Another attempt was the GMP (General Macro Processor) developed in the mid-1970s by M Boule in the DLB/GC department of the CII Company along ideas from R.J. Chevance. Tested in association with the Bordeaux I University the first version ran the SIRIS8/IRIS80 System. It was ported to mini6 systems and was the main component involved in the system generation for this family of computers. The GMP processor used C2-Chomsky grammars to define the syntax of macros and used an imperative language to execute computations and proceed to macro expansion.
Software: Practice and Experience, Vol. 14, pp. 519–531, Jun. 1984
gema
1995
gema is a contextual macro processor based on pattern matching, written by David N. Gray. It replaces/enhances the concept of regular expressions by contexts. Contexts roughly corresponds to named sets of patterns. As a consequence, macros in gema closely resemble an EBNF description.[6]
GPP
1996
gpp is another general macro processor written by Denis Auroux. It resembles a C preprocessor, but has more general semantics and allows for customized syntax (for instance, TeX, XHTML, and Prolog-like scripts are definable).[7]
M5
1999
m5 is a general-purpose macro processor written by William A. Ward, Jr. Unlike many macroprocessors, m5 does not directly interpret its input. Instead it uses a two-pass approach in which the first pass translates the input to an awk program, and the second pass executes the awk program to produce the final output.
pyexpander
2011
pyexpander is a general-purpose macro processor based on the Python programming language. In addition to simple macro replacement it allows evaluation of arbitrary Python expressions and execution of python code making pyexpander Turing complete.[8]
Text Assembler
2014
Text Assembler is a general-purpose text/macro processor based on the JavaScript programming language. Beyond simple macro replacement, it allows evaluating arbitrary JavaScript expressions and executing JavaScript code. It can also load JSON data models for more complex data-driven text processing tasks.[9]
PP
2016
PP is a text preprocessor designed for Pandoc (and more generally Markdown and reStructuredText). PP implements: Macros, literate programming, GraphViz, PlantUML and ditaa diagrams, Bash, Cmd, PowerShell, Python and Haskell scripts.[10]
minimac
minimac is a minimalist general purpose macro processor. It operates as a character stream filter, recursively expanding macros as they are encountered. It is unusual for a macro processor in that it uses an explicit argument stack, and user functions are defined by concatenation (similar to the Forth language).[11]
aa_macro
2017
aa_macro is an open-source character-stream-based text processing language written in Python. Text is processed in a left-to-right, inside-to-outside manner. A selection of pre-defined built-in functions provide fundamental processing mechanisms that may be used directly or as elements of user-defined styles. The language is user extensible, and wtfm, an open-source web-based document preparation wrapper for the language, is available.[12][13]
^ abStrachey, Christopher (October 1965). "A General Purpose Macrogenerator". Computer Journal. 8 (3): 225–241. doi:10.1093/comjnl/8.3.225.
^Waite, William M. (July 1970). "The mobile programming system: STAGE2". Communications of the ACM. 13 (7). New York, NY, USA: ACM: 415–421. doi:10.1145/362686.362691.
^Britten, Charles Randyl (2020-06-26). "Translation of 8080 Code to 8086 - Microsoft Translation of 8080 Code to 8086 and Other 16-Bit Processors". from the original on 2021-07-23. Retrieved 2021-11-28. Stage2 was created by Prof William Waite at the University of Colorado in the late sixties as a major component of his mobile programming system, MPS. Stage2 uses a pattern matching algorithm to match input lines of text against a set of templates. Each template is the first line of a macro and when a match is recognized the code body of that macro is processed to produce output text, error messages, or create a constructed line that is submitted for further template matching. So the process is fully recursive and quite powerful in its capabilities for text transformation. In fact, it can be used to implement a programming language compiler.
^Cole, A. J. (1981). Macro Processors (2nd, revised ed.). CUP Archive. p. 254.
^Farber, D. J., 635 Assembly System - GAP. Bell Telephone Laboratories Computation Center (1964).
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This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources General purpose macro processor news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2011 Learn how and when to remove this message A general purpose macro processor or general purpose preprocessor is a macro processor that is not tied to or integrated with a particular language or piece of software A macro processor is a program that copies a stream of text from one place to another making a systematic set of replacements as it does so Macro processors are often embedded in other programs such as assemblers and compilers Sometimes they are standalone programs that can be used to process any kind of text Macro processors have been used for language expansion defining new language constructs that can be expressed in terms of existing language components for systematic text replacements that require decision making and for text reformatting e g conditional extraction of material from an HTML file Examples of general purpose macro processors editName Year Description GPM 1960s One of the earliest macro processors was GPM the General Purpose Macrogenerator 1 This was developed at the University of Cambridge UK in the mid 1960s under the direction of Christopher Strachey ML I 1960s One particularly important general purpose macro processor was and still is ML I Macro Language One This was developed as part of PhD research by a Cambridge postgraduate Peter J Brown ML I operates on a character stream and requires no special format for its input nor any special flag characters to introduce macros STAGE2 1960s A contemporary of ML I was STAGE2 2 part of William Waite s Mobile Programming System 3 This too is a general purpose macro processor but it processes input a line at a time matching each line against specified patterns it is notable in that it is independent of character set requiring only that the digits 0 9 are contiguous and in that order a condition not met by some of the 6 bit and BCD character codes of the era M6 1960s Early macro processor developed at AT amp T Bell Laboratories by Douglas McIlroy Robert Morris and Andrew Hall It was influenced by GPM and TRAC Implemented in FORTRAN IV 4 it was ported to Version 2 Unix SNOBOL 1960s SNOBOL is a string processing language which is capable of doing most of the pre processing which can be done by a macro processor XPOP XPOP was another attempt at a general macro processing language by Mark Halpern at IBM in the 1960s TTM 1968 TTM is a recursive interpretive language designed primarily for string manipulation text editing macro definition and expansion and other applications generally classified as systems programming It was developed in 1968 by Steven Caine and E Kent Gordon at the California Institute of Technology It is derived primarily from GAP 5 and GPM 1 GMP 1970s Another attempt was the GMP General Macro Processor developed in the mid 1970s by M Boule in the DLB GC department of the CII Company along ideas from R J Chevance Tested in association with the Bordeaux I University the first version ran the SIRIS8 IRIS80 System It was ported to mini6 systems and was the main component involved in the system generation for this family of computers The GMP processor used C2 Chomsky grammars to define the syntax of macros and used an imperative language to execute computations and proceed to macro expansion M4 1977 m4 was designed for Unix by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie ELENA Software Practice and Experience Vol 14 pp 519 531 Jun 1984 gema 1995 gema is a contextual macro processor based on pattern matching written by David N Gray It replaces enhances the concept of regular expressions by contexts Contexts roughly corresponds to named sets of patterns As a consequence macros in gema closely resemble an EBNF description 6 GPP 1996 gpp is another general macro processor written by Denis Auroux It resembles a C preprocessor but has more general semantics and allows for customized syntax for instance TeX XHTML and Prolog like scripts are definable 7 M5 1999 m5 is a general purpose macro processor written by William A Ward Jr Unlike many macroprocessors m5 does not directly interpret its input Instead it uses a two pass approach in which the first pass translates the input to an awk program and the second pass executes the awk program to produce the final output pyexpander 2011 pyexpander is a general purpose macro processor based on the Python programming language In addition to simple macro replacement it allows evaluation of arbitrary Python expressions and execution of python code making pyexpander Turing complete 8 Text Assembler 2014 Text Assembler is a general purpose text macro processor based on the JavaScript programming language Beyond simple macro replacement it allows evaluating arbitrary JavaScript expressions and executing JavaScript code It can also load JSON data models for more complex data driven text processing tasks 9 PP 2016 PP is a text preprocessor designed for Pandoc and more generally Markdown and reStructuredText PP implements Macros literate programming GraphViz PlantUML and ditaa diagrams Bash Cmd PowerShell Python and Haskell scripts 10 minimac minimac is a minimalist general purpose macro processor It operates as a character stream filter recursively expanding macros as they are encountered It is unusual for a macro processor in that it uses an explicit argument stack and user functions are defined by concatenation similar to the Forth language 11 aa macro 2017 aa macro is an open source character stream based text processing language written in Python Text is processed in a left to right inside to outside manner A selection of pre defined built in functions provide fundamental processing mechanisms that may be used directly or as elements of user defined styles The language is user extensible and wtfm an open source web based document preparation wrapper for the language is available 12 13 See also editMacro computer science Rule for substituting a set input with a set outputReferences edit a b Strachey Christopher October 1965 A General Purpose Macrogenerator Computer Journal 8 3 225 241 doi 10 1093 comjnl 8 3 225 Waite William M July 1970 The mobile programming system STAGE2 Communications of the ACM 13 7 New York NY USA ACM 415 421 doi 10 1145 362686 362691 Britten Charles Randyl 2020 06 26 Translation of 8080 Code to 8086 Microsoft Translation of 8080 Code to 8086 and Other 16 Bit Processors Archived from the original on 2021 07 23 Retrieved 2021 11 28 Stage2 was created by Prof William Waite at the University of Colorado in the late sixties as a major component of his mobile programming system MPS Stage2 uses a pattern matching algorithm to match input lines of text against a set of templates Each template is the first line of a macro and when a match is recognized the code body of that macro is processed to produce output text error messages or create a constructed line that is submitted for further template matching So the process is fully recursive and quite powerful in its capabilities for text transformation In fact it can be used to implement a programming language compiler Cole A J 1981 Macro Processors 2nd revised ed CUP Archive p 254 Farber D J 635 Assembly System GAP Bell Telephone Laboratories Computation Center 1964 Gema gema sourceforge net Retrieved 2017 04 21 GPP logological org gpp Retrieved April 21 2017 Welcome to pyexpander s documentation pyexpander 1 7 0 documentation pyexpander sourceforge net Retrieved 2017 04 21 akiwi Text Assembler www akiwi co uk Retrieved 2017 04 21 Delord Christophe PP A generic Preprocessor with Pandoc in mind cdsoft fr Retrieved 2017 10 17 minimac freshmeat net Retrieved 2017 04 21 aa macro Retrieved 2017 11 24 wtfm Retrieved 2017 11 24 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title General purpose macro processor amp oldid 1057648597 General Purpose Macrogenerator, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
