Re: Using synopsis to translate python source code to C/C++ or Java

On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:02 -0400, "Stefan Seefeld" <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Hi Tom,
> 
> Tom Malcolmson wrote:
> > Hi.
> >
> > It appears to me that synopsis is able to parse Python and C++.  I see
> > formatters for producing documentation from the AST trees but I don't
> > see formatters for producing source code.  Do they exist?
> >   
> 
> No. The various language parsers in Synopsis first generate 
> language-specific source representations (a C++ parse tree, a Python 
> AST, etc.), and then translate that (or rather, a subset of it) into a 
> common representation: the 'Abstract Semantic Graph' (ASG). This ASG is 
> what most of the processors in Synopsis work on to generate 
> documentation. I assume this level is enough if you want to generate API 
> bindings (say), because for those you only care about the API 
> declarations, which are adequatly represented in the ASG.
> For full-blown code translation, however, this is not enough. You need 
> to operate one level below, on the parse tree.
> 
> I think what you want is very reasonable, and in case of Python even 
> straight-forward to do (in contrast to C++, for example).

Thanks for the clarification.

I'm surprised to hear you say that it would be relatively easy in
Python.  I thought that the hard part with Python is the type inference.

On the other hand, I think that Python 3 will make that much easier
because it allows the developer to annotate the source code with type
information.

Tom.

> If you are interested in such a feature I encourage you to submit a 
> detailed feature request. And, if you are willing and able to help 
> implement it, I would be glad to collaborate.
> 
> Thanks for your interest into Synopsis !
> 
>        Stefan
> 
> -- 
> 
>       ...ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin...
>