Learning
TXL If you have some
experience in pure functional and logic programming, you
have a step up, and it won't take you long to get started.
If you don't have experience in pure functional programming,
it'll take some time to learn TXL. In any case, the more
experience you gain with TXL, the more effective you will be
in using it. If you're an expert
in programming language processors, transformation systems
or parsers, you may want to follow the practical
introduction up with these detailed continuations.
Transformation
Paradigms How it works: You
are given a TXL grammar for the programming language Turing,
which you (intentionally) probably do not know (but it looks
kind of like Pascal, so it is probably familiar). You are presented
with a series of four problems in transforming Turing
programs. For each problem, you are asked to: The Oracle will not
allow you to move on to the next problem until you have
demonstrated that you have learned the lessons of the
previous problem. When you have successfully completed all
four of the challenge problems, you have earned your license
to program in TXL. You can find the
TXL
Challenge
here.
Learning
TXL
TXL
is a weird and wonderful language, with a new, rich and
distinctly different programming paradigm. Once you get your
mind around it, it can help you very rapidly achieve real
magic. But because it is different, it takes some time to
understand. Along the way you will probably mistake it
several times for things it isn't (for example, Haskell,
Awk, Yacc or XSL/T).
The
Guided Tour
One way to begin
learning TXL is to take the guided tour,
a short journey through the basic features of the TXL
language. The tour introduces basic concepts such as token
and grammar specification, rules, functions, patterns,
replacements, variables and parameters, and prepares you to
enter the world of TXL.The
Guided Tour of TXL
A short online web
tour of
the basic features of the TXL
Programming Language.
A
Practical Introduction
If you're
anxious to get started and learn as you go, a more go-to-it
point of view may suit your taste. ("Just the facts,
Ma'am.") If so, the practical introduction to
TXL
is for you.A
Practical Introduction to
TXL
A slide show presentation by Jim Cordy of Queen's
University from TXL
Day
2001 that
introduces the basics of practical
TXL
programming for software analysis and transformation
tasks in a "quick start" hands-on way.Working
with Grammars
A slide show presentation by Andrew Malton of the
University of Waterloo from TXL
Day
2001 on
the practice of crafting and working with structured
grammars in TXL.
A slide show presentation by Tom Dean of Queen's
University from TXL
Day
2001 on
paradigms for transforming across languages using
TXL.
The
TXL Challenge
The
TXL
Challenge is
a structured sequence of four simple transformation problems
specifically designed to quickly introduce you to the TXL
paradigm. It is recommended that all new users attempt the
challenge before trying to code their own solutions in TXL.
It has helped scores of new users to learn the "ropes" of
TXL in the past, and it's a quick and painless way to speed
over the "learning curve" for this weird and wonderful
language.