1.1 Notation

1.1 Notation

A particular variant of EBNF (Extended Bachus Naur Form)

will be used to describe the FunnelWeb syntax. In this variant,

Tutorial

literal strings are delimited by double quotes (e.g. "string"),

optional constructs by square brackets (e.g. [optional]), and

Developer

constructs repeated zero or more times by braces (e.g.

{zeroormore}). Constructs to be repeated a fixed number of

Reference

times are enclosed in braces followed by a decimal number

indicating the number of times to be repeated (e.g.

1 Introduction

{sixtimes}6). Constructs to be repeated one or more times are

2 Interface

enclosed in braces and followed by a + (e.g. {oneormore}+).

3 Scanner

The traditional BNF "

::=

" is replaced by the visually simpler

4 Parser

"

=

". The traditional BNF angle brackets are abandoned.

5 Analyser

Although FunnelWeb allows the special character to be

6 Tangle

changed using the construct "=", use of "" to

7 Weave

refer to FunnelWeb s special character is cumbersome and

8 Shell

abstract. To simplify the presentation, the default special

9 Commands

character "

@

" is used throughout this chapter to represent the

10 Glossary

special character.

11 References

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Copyright   Ross N. Williams 1992,1999. All rights

reserved.

http://www.ross.net/funnelweb/reference/intro_notation.html [3/3/2000 10:49:06 PM]