Added documentation for Program Templates

Program Templates are used by the GOLD Parser Builder to create skeleton programs for different programming languages and different versions of the Engine.

Updated the Builder Documentation

I updated the look of the GOLD Parser Builder Documentation so that reserved symbols are easier to distinguish. Also, I updated the line-based grammar example.

Various website tweaks

I made a number of very minor changes to the site. One of the changes, was the addition of a link to the Freeware License page on the side menu.

New! GOLD Parser Builder 2.06 was released.

A new version of the GOLD Parser Builder is now available. This version fixes a few bugs in the last version and adds a few minor features. The changes include the following:

• The parse tables can now to be exported to XML.
• Added the 'Known Issues' item to the Help Menu.
• Added three more predefined character sets. The character sets {Euro Sign}, {ANSI Mapped} and {ANSI Printable} were added.
• Added an error logger. When an error occurs, information is saved to a file in the GOLD Parser application folder.
• The toolbar icons will now always display correctly.
• The Webpage export utility was fixed.
• The null character {#0} is no longer valid.
• Many of the internal variables were changed from short integers to long (4 byte) integers.

You can get a copy from the Builder Download page.

New! A new GOLD Parser Engine DLL is available.

Max Battcher recompiled the .NET Module code into a standard DLL. This should allow easy development in Visual Studio and other related IDEs. You can get a copy on the Engine Download Page.

GOLD has a new logo!

I finally updated the logo used by the GOLD Parser. Beforehand, the logo was a picture of the Capitol of California in Sacramento with a scan-line effect. Although the Capitol is an important landmark, most Sacramentans identify with the Tower Bridge. This bridge is a vertical-lift structure that spans the Sacramento River directly in front of the Capitol. Tower Bridge was recently repainted gold to represent Sacramento's history.

Fixed the XML Grammar

The XML grammar located on the Grammar Download   Page had a flaw. The <XML Doc> rule allowed a list of objects to be defined, but XML only allows one root object. Thanks to Max Battcher for alerting me to this.

New! Added grammar for WScript-style commandline arguments

This is a grammar submitted by Alex K. Angelopoulos that is designed to be similar to the parsing performed by WScript.

Fixed a link in the Documentation

One of the links on the Documentation Page was wrong. The second link for the.NET Module was linked to Java Documentation page. Insert joke here. :-) Thanks to Marco Amato for catching this.

Various website tweaks

Many different parts of the website were updated or slightly changed.

Progress Report ...

I'm still working on version 2.0.6 of the GOLD Parser Builder. The new version will fix a few bugs in the exporting tables to HTML documents, GUI annoyances, and integer overflows for huge tables. The changes, so far, include:

• The parse tables can now to be exported to XML.
• Added the 'Known Issues' item to the Help Menu.
• Added three more predefined character sets. The character sets {Euro Sign}, {ANSI Mapped} and {ANSI Printable} were added.
• Added an error logger. When an error occurs, information is saved to a file in the GOLD Parser application folder.
• The toolbar icons will now always display correctly.
• The Webpage export utility was fixed.
• The null character {#0} is no longer valid.
• Many of the internal variables were changed from short integers to long (4 byte) integers.

The acronym for "GOLD" was changed.

The meaning of the acronym GOLD was changed to Generalized Object-oriented Language Developer. This is far more descriptive than the old acronym.

Website Update

I updated the website slightly by adding a gradient look to the top title section of each page.

The acronym for "GOLD" was changed.

The meaning of the acronym GOLD was changed to Generalized Object-oriented Language Developer. This is far more descriptive than the old acronym.

Website Update

I updated the website slightly by adding a gradient look to the top title section of each page.

XML grammar is now available

I wrote a grammar for the XML file format. I started work on it  some time ago, but never was able to finish it until now. You can get copy on the Grammar Download page.

Progress Report

I am currently working on version 2.0.6 of the GOLD Builder. The new version will fix a HUGE bug when exporting to HTML. Also, I will add a few minor enhancements and revise part of the GUI library that the Builder uses.

Great News! A new C++ Engine is now available!

Eylem Ugurel has created an excellent new version of the GOLD Parser Engine in C++. The ZIP file contains both the Visual C++ source code and the source code for his "Boethos" scripting engine.

You can get a copy on the Engine Download page.

A Program Template for Alexandre Rai's Delphi Engine was submitted

Joern Bungartz submitted a program template for the popular Delphi Engine by Alexandre Rai. This allows anyone using the Delphi Engine to be able to create a skeleton program based on their grammar.

Major website update!

The website received a major overhall in this last update. I created a number of additional concept pages for Backus-Naur Form, Regular Expressions, and a few others.

In addition, I created a page that lists all those who have been kind and generous enough to contibute to the website. Hopefully this page will grow over time in both detail and size.

Download statistics jump

The number of downloads of the GOLD Parser Builder is now averaging 3000+ a month!  This is is pretty good for a newcomer to the parser family.

The true number of downloads is still a mystery since the Builder is being mirrored on different servers - mostly universities.

In other news... ANTLR updates its website

ANTLR is a popular compiler-compiler parser generator that was developed by Terence Parr. The new site is very well done. ANTLR is based in San Francisco while the GOLD Parser is in Sacramento. The world can be very small sometimes! :)

In other news... Sad News. The developer of Anagram has passed away

Anagram is well respected parser generator developed by Jerome T. Holland. His loss, unfortunately, puts an end to the project.

Added a downloadable version of the Documentation

The GOLD Parser Builder normally opens the online documentation when it is selected from the Help menu. Since the documentation changes from time to time, this makes sure that the latest version is always displayed.

However, there are cases where the developer may want to look at the documentation without connecting to the Internet. This file will solve this problem. You can get a copy from the Builder Download page.

Website Updated

The look of the website was modified slightly. I also added a great free tool from AltaVista that will translate your website automatically. You can add this to your website too.

Update! Version 2.0.5 of the GOLD Parser Builder was released.

A minor update was made to the GOLD Parser Builder. Essentially, the grammar now allows more optional newlines. This allows the developer to make the grammar far more readable. Also, the grammar is more tolerate of line comments, which caused some problems when part of a rule was commented out.

New!  Pascal grammar is now available!

Alexander Grau submitted an excellent grammar for the Pascal Programming Language. It is available on theGrammar Download page.

Update! The ANSI C grammar was updated.

Vladimir Morozov found and fixed a flaw in the  ANSI C grammar. The grammar would not accept the C notation for function calls without parameters.

The GOLD Parser Website has two additional domains.

A very, very good friend of mine recently registered "GOLDParser.com" and "ParserGenerator.com" for me. Both domains will redirect to my normal DevinCook.com domain.

Added two "Concept" pages.

I added two new pages about Unicode and Little Endian Byte Ordering. These pages were copied from the Builder Documentation. As a result, I really didn't do any work. :-)

Added some questions to the FAQ

One of the questions was recommended by Damian ONeill.

Yet Another Update! Versions 2.0.4 of the GOLD Parser Builder and Engine were released.

Fixed another bug with line comments. The system wasn't incrementing the current line number. The Log Window was also improved - you can now double click on a grammar error and the system will jump to that line.

Added some sample grammars.

A sample grammar was added that shows how to define  hexadecimal literals. The second grammar will parse regular expressions.

Update! Engine ActiveX DLL 2.0.3 was released.

The last version of the ActiveX DLL contained a flaw - the Reduction class was not public.

Update! GOLD Parser Builder 2.0.3 was released.

Don Gray caught a rather embarrassing bug in the Builder. Even though the system supported all Unicode characters, the {#xxx} and {&xxx} notations were not working! This was an extremely careless mistake.

Anyway, the new version fixes this problem and adds a few minor enhancements that the Builder needed.

GOLD Parser Builder 2.0.2 was released.

This minor update fixes the line comment bug.

Oops... found a bug in the GOLD Parser Engine!

There is a bug in version 2.0 (and earlier) of the GOLD Parser Engine that affects line comments. The code was correctly removing all the characters to the end of the line, but was also removing the new line character sequence. This causes problems for line-based grammars where the "New Line" is a important token.

I will have a updated version in the next couple of days.

New! GOLD Parser Builder 2.0 was released!

There are two major changes in this version: #1 full Unicode support and #2 the ability to create skeleton programs using templates. The program's ability to create skeleton programs should help developers create applications easily.

For a full list of the enchancements and changes, please see the Changes by Version page.

The Download Page now has a subsection for the Builder

With the release of version 2.0 of the Builder, it is now possible to use Program Templates to create skeleton programs for different versions of the Engine. Given the number of these which can exist, a new page was needed.

Updated the documentation

The Builder documentation was updated to include the changes in version 2.0.

Added two grammars to the Download Page.

Mat Hounsell submitted a grammar that parses the Grammar used by the Builder. This is very clean design, but not the one used by version 2.0 of the Builder.

The second grammar is the actual grammar used by version 2.0 of the Builder.

Fixed the misspelling of "Backus-Naur" form.

Backus-Naur form (BNF) is used to describe the format of rules. I was unfortunately spelling it "Backus-Noir" - which is completely incorrect.

Various other website updates

Most of the pages on the website have been modified slightly.

Updated! The C++ version of the Engine was updated!

Manual Astudillo has updated the source code for his popular C++ parsing engine. This version addresses a few memory leaks.

The updated source is available on the Engine Download page

Added some links to the Links and Resources page.

I added a link to theProject: C++ Gold Parser Homepage. This site contains the source, information and discussion of Manuel Astudillo's popular version of the Engine.

Version 2.0 of the GOLD Parser is in production

The next version of the GOLD Parser is currently being created. This version will support full Unicode support.