[Close window] TG, the threestate grammar: a tutorial to compile and run a simple Bison grammar on your MSX

Programming a parser by hand is a difficult task; bison is the traditional GNU tool that helps programmers to build a parser in a natural way: you specify the grammar, and bison builds a C file that can parse that same grammar. (you may have also heard of a functionally equivalent program, named yacc)

But could this work on our beloved MSX!? I wanted to check by myself and, believe it or not, IT WORKS.

The procedure to build an MSX ROM that parses a bison grammar is described in the "Bison on MSX HOWTO" document below, so have a look if you're curious.

Available resources

• Read the "Bison on MSX HOWTO" tutorial [PDF, 15KB]
• Download sources, makefile and the MSX ROM [ZIP, 15KB]
• View the grammar, with comments & colours [HTML, 10KB]
• Avelino's page about the SDCC Z80 cross-compiler; there's also a link to the Boukichi adaptation of crt.o file for MSX ROMs, have a look.

As usual, any feedback or error report is welcome: [email protected]