Description
The Problem
In this assignment you will write an interpreter in Python for a simplified PostScript-like language,
concentrating on key computational features of the abstract machine, omitting all PostScript features
related to graphics, and using a somewhat-simplified syntax. The simplified language, SPS, has the
following features of PostScript:
Constants:
▪ integer constants, e.g. 1, 2, 3, -4, -5. We will represent integer constants as Python
“int” values in opstack and dictstack.
▪ boolean constants, e.g. , true , false. We will represent boolean constants as Python
“bool” values in opstack and dictstack.
▪ string constants, e.g. (CptS355): string delimited in parenthesis. We will represent string
constants as StrConstant objects (see elements.py file.) (Make sure to keep the
parenthesis delimiters around the string value when you initialize the StrConstant object.)
▪ name constants, e.g. /fact, /x. A name constant starts with a ‘/’ and letter followed by an
arbitrary sequence of letters and numbers. We will represent name constants as Python “str”
values in opstack and dictstack.
▪ names to be looked up in the dictionary stack, e.g., fact, x; as for name constants, without
the ‘/’
▪ code constants (i.e., code-arrays); code between matched curly braces { … }
Operators:
▪ built-in operators on numbers: add, sub, mul, mod, eq, lt, gt
▪ string creation operator: string; pops an integer value (e.g., n) from the operand stack and
creates a StrConstant object with ‘value’ of length ‘n’. Initializes each character in the
StrConstant‘s ‘value’with ‘\0’ , i.e., ascii NUL character.
▪ built-in operators on string values: get, put, getinterval, putinterval,
length. These operators should support StrConstant arguments.
▪ dictionary creation operator: dict; pops an integer value from the operand stack and creates a
new empty dictionary on the operand stack (we will call this psDict). psDict ignores the
popped integer value.
▪ built-in operators on dictionary values: get, put, length. These operators should
support DictConstant arguments. For simplicity, we will assume that the keys of the
DictConstant‘s dictionary are either names (e.g., ‘\x’) or integers.
▪ built-in conditional operators: if, ifelse (you will implement if/ifelse operators in
Part2)
▪ built-in loop operator: for (you will implement for operator in Part 2).
▪ stack operators: dup, copy, count, pop, clear, exch, stack
▪ dictionary stack manipulation operators: begin, end.
− begin requires one dictionary operand on the operand stack; end has no operands.
▪ name definition operator: def. We will call this psDef.
▪ stack printing operator: stack. Prints contents of opstack without changing it.
Part 1 – Requirements
In Part 1 you will build some essential pieces of the interpreter but not yet the full interpreter. The
pieces you build will be driven by Python test code rather than actual PostScript programs. The pieces
you are going to build first are:
1. The operand and dictionary stacks
2. Defining variables (with def) and looking up names
3. The operators that don’t involve code-arrays: all of the operators except for loop operator,
if/ifelse operators, and calling functions (You will complete these in Part 2)
1. The Operand and Dictionary Stacks – opstack and dictstack
In our interpreter we will define the operand and dictionary stacks as attributes of the Stacks class in
psbuiltins.py file. Both stacks will be represented as Python lists. When using a list as a stack, we
will assume that the top of the stack is the end of the list (i.e., the pushing and popping happens at the
end of the list).
The opstack will only include the evaluated values, i.e. the values that the PostScript expressions
evaluate to. In the opstack:
– The primitive values (i.e., integers, booleans) are represented as Python “int” and “bool”
values, respectively.
– The function and variable names will be represented as Python “str” values where the first
character is ‘/’.
– String constants will be represented as StrConstant objects.
– Dictionary values will be represented as DictConstant objects.
– Code-array (i.e., function bodies, and bodies of for, if, ifelse expressions) are represented
as CodeArray objects.
The dictstack will include the dictionaries where the PostScript variable and function definitions are
stored. The dictionary stack needs to support adding and removing dictionaries at the top of the stack
(i.e., end of the list), as well as defining and looking up names. Note that dictstack holds all the local
and global variables accessible at a particular point in the program, i.e., the referencing environment.
2. define and lookup
You will write two helper functions, define and lookup, to define a variable and to lookup the values
of a variable, respectively.
The define function adds the “name:value” pair to the top dictionary in the dictionary stack. Your
psDef function ( i.e., your implementation of the PostScript def operator) should pop the name and
value from opstack and call the “define” function.
You should keep the ‘/’ in the name constant when you store it in the dictStack.
“””Helper function. Adds name:value pair to the top dictionary in the dictstack.
(Note: If the dictstack is empty, first adds an empty dictionary to the dictstack
then adds the name:value to that.”””
def define(self, name, value):
pass
The lookup function should look-up the value of a given variable in the dictionary stack. In Part 2,
when you interpret simple PostScript expressions, you will call this function for variable lookups and
function calls.
“””Helper function. Searches the dictstack for a variable or function and returns its
value. (Starts searching at the top of the opstack; returns None and prints an error
message if name is not found. Make sure to add ‘/’ to the beginning of the name.)”””
def lookup(self,name):
pass
3. Operators
Operators will be implemented as zero-argument Python functions that manipulate the operand and
dictionary stacks. For example, the add operator could be implemented as follows.
“””Pops 2 values from opstack; checks if they are numerical (int); adds them; then
pushes the result back to opstack.
“””
def add(self):
if len(self.opstack) > 1:
op1 = self.opPop()
op2 = self.opPop()
if isinstance(op1,int) and isinstance(op2,int):
self.opPush(op1 + op2)
else:
print(“Error: add – one of the operands is not a number value”)
self.opPush(op2) #push the operands back to opstack
self.opPush(op1)
else:
print(“Error: add expects 2 operands”)
▪ The begin and end operators are a little different in that they manipulate the dictionary stack in
addition to (or instead of) the operand stack. Remember that the dict operator (i.e., psDict
function)affects only the operand stack.
(Note about dict: dict takes an integer operand from the operand stack and pushes a
DictConstant value (with `value` {} ) to the operand stack (affects only the operand stack).
The initial size argument is ignored – PostScript requires this argument for backward compatibility of
dict operator with the early PostScript versions).
▪ The def operator (i.e., psDef function) takes two operands from the opstack: a string and a
value – recall that strings that start with “/” in the operand stack represent names of PostScript
variables. It calls define function to add the name and value to the top dictionary.
Important Note: For all operators you need to implement basic checks, i.e., check whether there are
sufficient number of values in the operand stack and check whether those values have correct types.
For example,
• def operator: the operand stack should have 2 values where the second value from top of the
stack is a string starting with ‘/’
• getinterval operator : the operand stack should have 3 values; the top two valuea on the
stack should be integers (count and index) and the third value should be a StrConstant.
Also, see the add implementation on page 3. You will be deducted points if you don’t do error checking.
4. Testing Your Code
We will be using the unittest Python testing framework in this assignment. See
https://docs.python.org/3/library/unittest.html for additional documentation.
The file tests_part1.py provides sample test cases for the SPS operators. This file imports the
Stacks class (psbuiltins.py file) which will include your implementations of the SPS operators.
You don’t need to provide new tests in this assignment.
In Python unittest framework, each test function has a “test_” prefix. To run all tests, execute the
following command on the command line.
python -m unittest tests_part1.py
You can run tests with more detail (higher verbosity) by passing in the -v flag:
python -m unittest -v tests_part1.py
