Re: [xml-dev] Defining a language using itself

[Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>]

It's a long established tradition in computing to write the compiler for language L in L. That's not the same, of course, as writing the specification in L.

Of course, the XML schema for XSD documents does not fully specify XSD. It only specifies the syntax; and even then, only partially.

Michael Kay
Saxonica
mike@saxonica.com
+44 (0) 118 946 5893




On 10 Jan 2015, at 20:43, Costello, Roger L. <costello@mitre.org> wrote:

> Hi Folks,
> 
> I think it is mind-blowing when a language is defined using the language itself.
> 
> This document defines the XML Schema language using XML Schema:
> 
> http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema11-1/#normative-schemaSchema
> 
> That is the XML schema-for-schemas!
> 
> This document defines the JSON Schema language using JSON Schema:
> 
> http://json-schema.org/draft-04/schema# 
> 
> That is the JSON schema-for-schemas!
> 
> These two documents define the ANTLR grammar language using the ANTLR grammar:
> 
> https://github.com/antlr/grammars-v4/blob/master/antlr4/ANTLRv4Parser.g4
> https://github.com/antlr/grammars-v4/blob/master/antlr4/ANTLRv4Lexer.g4
> 
> That is the ANTLR grammar-for-grammars!
> 
> Neat!
> 
> Do you know of other languages that are defined using the language itself?
> 
> /Roger
> 
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