Blogs

Compiling Yacc files using Yacc

Posted Tue, 05/30/2006 - 6:47pm by developer

Yet Another Compiler Compiler or yacc. From the way it was named it sounds like the latest tool in compiler building, right? But actually it is old and venerable. Please don't email to tell me about the much better tools out there. I refer you to the Wikipedia topic on compiler-compilers.

But when you are building a grammar visualization tool (as I am) one of the first thoughts to cross your mind is how to read the many pre-existing grammars already out there. There are literally dozens if not hundreds of yacc input files floating around. So I wanted to be able to read those files and generate my graphics based representation for editing with a mouse. Hmmm...generate, sounds sort of like compile. Yeah, make a compiler that accepts yacc files as input. So what tools do I have handy with which to build such a compiler? That's right, Yacc. The one thing about Yacc is that it, or it's close relative GNU Bison, is available on every computer out there. If you've got a Linux box or a Macintosh and a development system then you are ready to compile a compiler.

So how to write a grammar for Yacc?

Boot Camp

Posted Wed, 04/05/2006 - 11:43pm by developer

What does today's big announcement by Apple of software that will dual boot an Intel Macintosh mean? After all if I buy a Mac I want to run Mac OS X all the time. I regularly use Windows XP from my Macintosh and I do it using a program from Microsoft called Remote Desktop Connection. About the only thing I might prefer over having the ability to remotely access a Windows XP machine and its screen, would be to run Windows virtually. By Virtually I mean to run Windows software from within Mac OS X. Nonetheless this announcement is important for two big reasons.

Mac OS X Security Challenge

Posted Tue, 03/07/2006 - 12:23am by developer

Recently there has been a lot of news about the security of Mac OS X. A lot of the press would like to sell the idea that the Mac isn't fundamentally any more secure than any other operating system (read Windows). The reasoning is based upon popularity. Surely the less popular operating system has fewer problems because it naturally has fewer attackers.

Well...Maybe

Posted Sat, 11/12/2005 - 6:23pm by developer

Does Microsoft Deliberately Crash On Macs?

Quote:

Tell The Truth Pt 2: Microsoft Deliberately Crashes On Macs by Spencer Critchley -- Wow! Big response to my post, made with tongue only partly in cheek, accusing Microsoft of designing Office apps to crash on Macs. More on my experience as a crash test dummy, plus other perspectives.

I remember back in the days of the Mac Plus. It was during a snack break at one of the very first MacApp courses offered by Apple. An Apple engineer (who I won't name here) explained something to us then that has always stuck in my mind. Before the days of protected memory ordinary users (not us tech types) saw crashes as a problem with "the computer". Most people don't know where to assign the blame when things go wrong. So the blame would lie with Apple.