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Syntax specification

The syntax of Dusa is not whitespace-sensitive. Comments, which begin with a pound sign followed by a space or end of line and continue to the end of the line, are treated like whitespace.

Tokens

  • A <variable> matches /[A-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_]*/
  • A <wildcard> matches /_[a-zA-Z0-9_]*/ and represents variable names that you wish to be ignored.
  • An <identifier> matches /[a-z][a-zA-Z0-9_]*/
  • A <string-literal> is a regular string constant with no escape characters: two double quotes " surrounding any ASCII character in the range 32-126 except for " and \.
  • An <int-literal> matches /0|-?[1-9][0-9]*/

Context-free grammar

<program> ::= <declaration> <program> | ""
<declaration> ::= "#builtin" <builtin> <identifier> [ "." ]
| "#lazy" <identifier> ["."]
| "#demand" <premises> "."
| "#forbid" <premises> "."
| <conclusion> [ ":-" <premises> ] "."
<premises> ::= <premise> | <premise> "," <premises>
<premise> ::= <term> <oper> <term>
| <attribute> [ "is" <term> ]
<oper> ::= "==" | "!=" | ">=" | ">" | "<=" | "<"
<conclusion> ::= <attribute>
| <attribute> "is" <term-or-choices>
| <attribute> "is?" <term-or-choices>
<term-or-choices> ::= <term> | "{" <choice-options> "}"
<choice-options> ::= <term> | <term> "," <choice-options>
<attribute> ::= <identifier> | <identifier> <arguments>
<arguments> ::= <atomic-term> | <atomic-term> <arguments>
<atomic-term> ::= <wildcard> | <variable>
| <string-literal> | <int-literal>
| <identifier> | <builtin-identifier>
| "(" <term> ")"
<term> ::= <atomic-term>
| <identifier> <arguments>
| <builtin-identifier> <arguments>
<builtin> ::= "BOOLEAN_TRUE" | "BOOLEAN_FALSE"
| "NAT_ZERO" | "NAT_SUCC"
| "INT_PLUS" | "INT_MINUS" | "INT_TIMES"
| "STRING_CONCAT"