Is there a standard C++ grammar?

Question

Does the standard specify the official C++ grammar?

I searched, but did not find it anywhere.

Also, I wish to read a bit about C++ grammar in detail, like which category of grammars it falls in, etc. Any links pointing me in the right direction would be helpful.

By category, I mean

taken from here.

Solution 1

Yes, it does.

The grammar is described in detail throughout the standard and is summarized in Appendix A: Grammar Summary (it's Appendix A in both the C++03 standard and the C++0x final committee draft).

You can purchase the C++03 standard or you can download the C++0x FCD (it's document n3092 on that page).

To answer the "what category is it in?" question, the C++ grammar is not context-free (also see the questions linked in answers to that question; they have additional examples of issues related to the C++ grammar and parsing C++).

Solution 2

Alessio Marchetti put a hyperlinked BNF grammar for C++ up at http://www.nongnu.org/hcb/.

Having everything linked together and on a single page makes it easy to navigate between rules.

Solution 3

Andrew Birkett has a thorough overview of parsing C++ on his web site. It covers some of the difficulties in creating a C++ grammar (mixing lexical, syntactic, and semantic analysis) and includes links to several C++ grammars.

Solution 4

Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, wrote a book called The C++ Programming Language which has been updated many times (I read the 3rd edition about 10 years ago). I recall it had very technical details regarding grammar (pre-processor and compiler).

You can probably find this book in on of your local book stores, it may offer you more enjoyment than a standards document from ANSI, depending on how specific you need to be.

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