A simple, typed binary format DSL that elaborates to a core language and compiles to a recursive descent parser in Rust. This could be used as the basis of future language experiments.
The surface language is unified into a single term syntax that is disambiguated into types, expressions and formats during elaboration. This could be simplified later, but leaves the door open for richer forms of type and format parameterisation in the future.
Record types and formats must be defined at the top-level, which makes compilation to languages with nominal types easier, but this could be changed later if desired.
Additional experiments could be added as additional projects, exploring the following:
- Steppable interpreter (similar to the CEK machine)
- Documentation generation
- Format-directed rendering of parsed data
- Other parsing approaches
- Early parser generator
- Table-based parser generator
- Linear-time parser combinators
- Prefix-tree based ambiguity analysis (similar to doodle)
- Fuzzer generation
Additional language features:
- Metavariables
- Untagged alternative formats
- Tagged alternative formats
- More integer types
- Postponed elaboration
- Refinement types
- Parameterised types
- Parameterised formats
- Parameterised expressions
- Module imports
- Bidirectional formats
- Custom formats from encoder/decoder pairs
- FFI for external encoder/decoders