The META/REDUCE translator writing system

The META/REDUCE translator writing system operates in a LISP environment closely interfaced with both LISP and REDUCE syntax. The language supports: BNF like syntax, recursive descent parsing schemes, lexical primitives, symbol table primitives, and automatic syntax error message generation. A complete simple arithmetic expression evaluator provides an introduction to the capabilities of the system. The body of the work describes the control constructs and primitives of the system. The paper is completed with the description of a working interpreter for a subset of a contemporary programming language. It is assumed that the reader has some familiarity with LISP 1.5 and REDUCE.