Attribute coupled grammars

Abstract

In this paper, attribute grammars are viewed as specifying translations from source language terms into target language terms. The terms are constructed over a hierarchical signature consisting of a semantic and a syntactic part. Attribute grammars are redefined to become morphisms in the category of such signatures, called attribute coupled grammars, such that they come with an associative composition operation. The composition allows for a new kind of modularity in compiler specifications. The paper also discusses properties of the concept with respect to attribute evaluation and application as a tree transformation device.