An improved XML syntax for the java programming language

Abstract

The benefits of using XML to encode program- ming language's source code have already been identified and XML syntaxes developed for this purpose. However, there is an absence of a systematic identification of the requirements that need to be met in order to fully leverage the potentials of XML and the key concept of the abstract syntax is being misinterpreted. Due to this the syntaxes have various deficiencies, a number of which are common to many of them. This paper clarifies the concepts, identifies these deficiencies, and proposes a new syntax for the Java programming language which avoids them. The superiority of the new syntax is demonstrated by comparing it with two of the most relevant publicly available syntaxes with the same purpose. I. INTRODUCTION The benefits of using XML to encode programming languages' source code have already been identified (1), (2) and XML syntaxes developed for this purpose (3), (4), (5). However, there is a lack of a systematic approach to the identification of more precise goals the syntax should achieve in order to fully leverage the potentials of this approach. Particularly, it appears that the central concept in the application of XML to source code, that of the abstract syntax, is not being interpreted properly. In order to explore this subject, a research project named Jezix was started. The main goal of the project was the development of an XML syntax for the Java pro- gramming language that is based on the correct treatment of the concept of the abstract syntax, which allows it to optimally leverage the identified potentials of XML. The results of the research were validated by demonstrating the proposed syntax's superiority over existing syntaxes. This was achieved by solving several code analysis prob- lems for the proposed and two of the most relevant existing syntaxes and then comparing the amount of effort needed and the properties of the resulting query code. The next section gives an overview of source code and XML. It repeats some well-known results of the formal language theory, but also clarifies important concepts and defines some terms used later. Section III presents the two key benefits of using XML for source code. Section IV reflects on the effects of using XML on the quality of the machine-to-human interface. Section V presents the most sensitive requirements the XML syntax has to meet. Section VI gives a critical overview of other existing syntaxes and identifies the common root of many of their deficiencies. Section VII briefly introduces the proposed syntax and proceeds to the presentation of the results of its comparison with the two other syntaxes. Finally, the closing section summarizes the achievements and conclusions of the Jezix project. II. OVERVIEW OF SOURCE CODE AND XML A programming language has two important compo- nents: