JAVACC

JavaCC (Java Compiler Compiler) is an open source parser generator for the Java programming language. JavaCC is similar to Yacc in that it generates a parser for a formal grammar provided in EBNF notation, except the output is Java source code. Unlike Yacc, however, JavaCC generates top-down parsers, which limits it to the LL(k) class of grammars (in particular, left recursion cannot be used). The tree builder that accompanies it, JJTree, constructs its trees from the bottom up.

In 1996, Sun Microsystems released a parser generator called Jack. The developers responsible for Jack created their own company called Metamata and changed the Jack name to JavaCC. Metamata eventually became part of WebGain. After WebGain shut down its operations, JavaCC was moved to its current home.

Java Compiler Compiler [tm] (JavaCC [tm]) is the most popular parser generator for use with Java [tm] applications. A parser generator is a tool that reads a grammar specification and converts it to a Java program that can recognize matches to the grammar. In addition to the parser generator itself, JavaCC provides other standard capabilities related to parser generation such as tree building (via a tool called JJTree included with JavaCC), actions, debugging, etc.

JavaCC works with any Java VM version 1.2 or greater. It has been certified to be 100% Pure Java. JavaCC has been tested on countless different platforms without any special porting requirements. Given that we have seen JavaCC run on only around 5 or 6 platforms, we think this is a great testimonial to the "Write Once Run Anywhere" aspect of the Java programming language. We say this as engineers who have personally experienced the benefits of writing Java applications.