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There are many lexical analyzer and parser generators out there – lex/flex and yacc/bison, jflex and javacup, gplex and gppg, etc. I’m wondering what tools are used by the official developers of languages – do Sun and Microsoft use any of these in developing Java and .NET, or do shops of that size use only custom internal tools?
I’ve been inside a few commercial compilers, and I don’t know of any that are built on lex or yacc generators. Lex and yacc are handy to get a syntax up and parsing fairly quickly, but this is usually not the highest priority of a commercial product. I’m not saying commercial products can’t be built on yacc – I’m sure some have been – but the commercial compilers I’ve been part of have all been hand crafted code favoring raw speed over just about everything else.
And yes, compiling the compiler in itself is the norm, and a “fun” Escher-esque adventure in makefile logic. ;>