MARST

Introduction to MARST

MARST is an Algol-to-C translator. It automatically translates programs written on the algorithmic language Algol 60 to the C programming language.

The MARST package includes three main components:

• the translator, MARST, that translates Algol 60 programs to the C programming language.
• the library, ALGLIB, that contains precompiled standard Algol 60 procedures and other necessary library routines. This library is to be used at linking stage. (In the distribution the name libalgol.a is used for this library.)
• the converter, MACVT, that allows to convert existing Algol 60 programs from some other representations to MARST representation.

The input language of the translator is hardware representation of full (level 0) Algol 60 as described in the following IFIP document:

Modified Report on the Algorithmic Language Algol 60, The Computer Journal, Vol. 19, No. 4, Nov. 1976, pp. 364—79. (This document is an official standard IFIP document. It is not a part of the MARST package.)

Please note that there are some differences between the Revised Report and the Modified Report since the latter is a result of application of the following IFIP document to the Revised Report:

R. M. De Morgan, I. D. Hill, and B. A. Wichmann. A Supplement to the Algol 60 Revised Report. The Computer Journal, Vol. 19, No. 3, 1976, pp. 276—88. (This document is an official standard IFIP document. It is not a part of the MARST package.)

The translator and all library routines are written on basic dialect of the C programming language, which is practically the same as widely known 1989' ANSI C. The output code produced by the translator also uses the same dialect.

Please note that the MARST translator has an inborn defect (not a bug): it stops on the first error found. This means that to find all errors in a source Algol program the user should perform several runs of the translator (surely this defect is not essential if the source program has no errors). The author plans to remove this defect in the future.

Downloading MARST

MARST distribution can be found on in the subdirectory /gnu/marst/ on your favorite GNU mirror. For other ways to obtain MARST, please read How to get GNU Software.

Documentation

Mailing Lists/Newsgroups

The main discussion list is <help-marst@gnu.org>, and is used to discuss all aspects of MARST, including development and porting.

Announcements about MARST and most other GNU Software are made on <info-gnu@gnu.org>.

There is also a special list used for reporting bugs, <bug-marst@gnu.org>. For details on submitting a bug report, please see the section Report a Bug below.

To subscribe to any MARST mailing list, please send an empty mail with a Subject: header line of just "subscribe" to the relevant -request list. For example, to subscribe yourself to the main list, you would send mail to <help-marst-request@gnu.org> with no body and a Subject: header line of just "subscribe".

Currently, there is no newsgroup dedicated to MARST.

Request an Enhancement

Please remember that development of MARST is a volunteer effort, and you can also contribute to its development. For information about contributing to the GNU Project, please read How to help GNU.

Report a Bug

Maintainer

Please send FSF & GNU inquiries & questions to gnu@gnu.org. There are also other ways to contact the FSF.

Please send comments on these web pages to webmasters@gnu.org, send other questions to gnu@gnu.org.

The MARST package is a part of the GNU project, released under the aegis of GNU.

Copyright © 2000 Andrew Makhorin, Department for Applied Informatics, Moscow Aviation Institute, Moscow, Russia

Copyright © 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.

Updated: 23 Jul 2000