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POConstructing a simple interpreter
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copied!<p>I’m starting a project where I need to implement a light-weight interpreter. The interpreter is used to execute simple scientific algorithms. The programming language that this interpreter will use should be simple, since it is targeting non- software developers (for example, mathematicians.)</p> <p>The interpreter should support basic programming languages features:</p> <ul> <li>Real numbers, variables, multi-dimensional arrays</li> <li>Binary (+, -, *, /, %) and Boolean (==, !=, <, >, <=, >=) operations</li> <li>Loops (for, while), Conditional expressions (if)</li> <li>Functions</li> </ul> <p><a href="http://www.mathworks.com/" rel="noreferrer">MathWorks MatLab</a> is a good example of where I’m heading, just much simpler. The interpreter will be used as an environment to demonstrate algorithms; simple algorithms such as finding the average of a dataset/array, or slightly more complicated algorithms such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaussian_elimination" rel="noreferrer">Gaussian elimination</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA" rel="noreferrer">RSA</a>.</p> <p>Best/Most practical resource I found on the subject is Ron Ayoub’s entry on Code Project (<a href="http://www.codeproject.com/KB/architecture/InterpreterPatternParsing.aspx" rel="noreferrer">Parsing Algebraic Expressions Using the Interpreter Pattern</a>) - a perfect example of a minified version of my problem.</p> <p>The Purple Dragon Book seems to be too much, anything more practical?</p> <p>The interpreter will be implemented as a .NET library, using C#. However, resources for any platform are welcome, since the design-architecture part of this problem is the most challenging.</p> <p>Any practical resources?</p> <p>(please avoid “this is not trivial” or “why re-invent the wheel” responses)</p>

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