Good resources for language design

Posted by Aaron Digulla on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Aaron Digulla
Published on 2012-03-20T09:30:25Z Indexed on 2012/03/20 11:38 UTC
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language-design

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dsl

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xtext

There are lots of books about good web design, UI design, etc. With the advent of Xtext, it's very simple to write your own language. What are good books and resources about language design?

I'm not looking for a book about compiler building (like the dragon book) but something that answers:

How to create a grammar that is forgiving (like adding optional trailing commas)?
Which grammar patterns cause problems for users of a language?
How create a compact grammar without introducing ambiguities

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