Table of Contents

Buzz Syntax BNF Specification

For an example-driven explanation of the Buzz syntax, see the syntax cheatsheet. In what follows, we report a formal Backus-Naur Form grammar specification.

Tokens

An identifier in Buzz is defined by this regular expression: 

[[:alpha:]_][[:alnum:]_]*

The recognized tokens are:

Token Id
identifier TOKID
numeric constant TOKCONST
'_string_' “_string_” TOKSTRING
var TOKVAR
nil TOKNIL
if TOKIF
else TOKELSE
function TOKFUN
return TOKRETURN
for TOKFOR
while TOKWHILE
and, or TOKLANDOR
not TOKLNOT
+, - TOKADDSUB
*, / TOKMULDIV
% TOKMOD
^ TOKPOW
« » TOKLRSHIFT
& | TOKBANDOR
! TOKBNOT
{ TOKBLOCKOPEN
} TOKBLOCKCLOSE
( TOKPAROPEN
) TOKPARCLOSE
[ TOKIDXOPEN
] TOKIDXCLOSE
; \n TOKSTATEND
, TOKLISTSEP
= TOKASSIGN
. TOKDOT
< ⇐ > >= == != TOKCMP

Grammar

script             ::= statlist
statlist           ::= stat | statlist stat
stat               ::= <nil> | vardef | fundef | if | loop | command
block              ::= TOKBLOCKOPEN statlist TOKBLOCKCLOSE
vardef             ::= TOKVAR TOKID | TOKVAR TOKID assignment
fundef             ::= TOKFUN TOKID TOKPAROPEN idlist TOKPARCLOSE block
if                 ::= TOKIF TOKPAROPEN condition TOKPARCLOSE block endif
endif              ::= <nil> |  TOKELSE block
loop               ::= forloop | whileloop
forloop            ::= TOKFOR TOKPAROPEN idref TOKASSIGN expression TOKLISTSEP condition TOKLISTSEP idref TOKASSIGN expression TOKPARCLOSE block
whileloop          ::= TOKWHILE TOKPAROPEN condition TOKPARCLOSE block
conditionlist      ::= condition | conditionlist TOKLISTSEP condition
condition          ::= comparison | condition TOKLANDOR comparison | TOKLNOT condition
comparison         ::= expression | expression TOKCMP expression
expression         ::= product | expression TOKADDSUB product
product            ::= modulo | product TOKMULDIV modulo
modulo             ::= power | modulo TOKMOD power
power              ::= bitshift powerrest
powerrest          ::= <nil> | TOKPOW power
bitshift           ::= bitwiseandor | operand TOKLRSHIFT bitwiseandor
bitwiseandor       ::= bitwisenot | bitwiseandor TOKBANDOR bitwisenot
bitwisenot         ::= operand | TOKBNOT bitwisenot
operand            ::= TOKNIL | TOKCONST | TOKSTRING | TOKPAROPEN condition TOKPARCLOSE | TOKADDSUB power | idref | lambda | tabledef
command            ::= idref | idref assignment | TOKRETURN expression
assignment         ::= TOKASSIGN expression
tabledef           ::= TOKBLOCKOPEN TOKBLOCKCLOSE | TOKBLOCKOPEN tablefielddeflist TOKBLOCKCLOSE
tablefielddef      ::= TOKDOT TOKID assignment | TOKDOT TOKCONST assignment
tablefielddeflist  ::= tablefielddef | tablefielddeflist TOKLISTSEP tablefielddef
idlist             ::= <nil> | TOKID | idlist TOKLISTSEP TOKID
idreflist          ::= idref | idreflist TOKLISTSEP idref
idref              ::= TOKID | idref TOKDOT TOKID | idref TOKIDXOPEN expression TOKIDXCLOSE | idref TOKPAROPEN conditionlist TOKPARCLOSE
lambda             ::= TOKFUN TOKPAROPEN idlist TOKPARCLOSE block