Use FsLex and FsYacc to make a parser in F#

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Update: The template I posted yesterday was for PowerPack 1.9.9.9 which is not the most recent version available. I have since updated the template to target PowerPack 2.0.0.0. If you installed the old template you may need to uninstall at Tools\Extension Manager...

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Jomo Fisher—F# is excellent for parsing text and creating new languages. The F# PowerPack contains two tools—FsLex.exe and FsYacc.exe—to create powerful lexers and parsers. However, it isn’t so easy to configure a Visual Studio project correctly to use these tools. To help with this, I made a project template that you can use to get started quickly. Just follow these quick steps:

1) Download the F# PowerPack from here.

2) In VS2010, go to File\New Project. Select ‘Online Templates’ and search for ‘F# Parsed’ (or my name).

LexYacc

The starter project implements a simple calculator language that you can grow into a more sophisticated Domain Specific Language or text processing application.

Credit goes to Matt Valerio and Brian McNamara for figuring out the details and to Don Syme for making the calculator language that this is based on. Bugs and omissions are probably my fault. Please let me know what you think, and whether you have any issues or spot any bugs that I should address.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.