New batch from Fred
diff --git a/Doc/libparser.tex b/Doc/libparser.tex
index 130ae95..4398177 100644
--- a/Doc/libparser.tex
+++ b/Doc/libparser.tex
@@ -14,12 +14,6 @@
\section{Built-in Module \sectcode{parser}}
\bimodindex{parser}
-
-% ==== 2. ====
-% Give a short overview of what the module does.
-% If it is platform specific, mention this.
-% Mention other important restrictions or general operating principles.
-
The \code{parser} module provides an interface to Python's internal
parser and byte-code compiler. The primary purpose for this interface
is to allow Python code to edit the parse tree of a Python expression
@@ -40,24 +34,37 @@
trees stored in the ``AST objects'' created by this module are the
actual output from the internal parser when created by the
\code{expr()} or \code{suite()} functions, described below. The AST
-objects created by \code{tuple2ast()} faithfully simulate those
-structures.
+objects created by \code{sequence2ast()} faithfully simulate those
+structures. Be aware that the values of the sequences which are
+considered ``correct'' will vary from one version of Python to another
+as the formal grammar for the language is revised. However,
+transporting code from one Python version to another as source text
+will always allow correct parse trees to be created in the target
+version, with the only restriction being that migrating to an older
+version of the interpreter will not support more recent language
+constructs. The parse trees are not typically compatible from one
+version to another, whereas source code has always been
+forward-compatible.
-Each element of the tuples returned by \code{ast2tuple()} has a simple
-form. Tuples representing non-terminal elements in the grammar always
-have a length greater than one. The first element is an integer which
-identifies a production in the grammar. These integers are given
-symbolic names in the C header file \code{Include/graminit.h} and the
-Python module \code{Lib/symbol.py}. Each additional element of the
-tuple represents a component of the production as recognized in the
-input string: these are always tuples which have the same form as the
-parent. An important aspect of this structure which should be noted
-is that keywords used to identify the parent node type, such as the
-keyword \code{if} in an \emph{if\_stmt}, are included in the node tree
-without any special treatment. For example, the \code{if} keyword is
+Each element of the sequences returned by \code{ast2list} or
+\code{ast2tuple()} has a simple form. Sequences representing
+non-terminal elements in the grammar always have a length greater than
+one. The first element is an integer which identifies a production in
+the grammar. These integers are given symbolic names in the C header
+file \code{Include/graminit.h} and the Python module
+\code{Lib/symbol.py}. Each additional element of the sequence represents
+a component of the production as recognized in the input string: these
+are always sequences which have the same form as the parent. An
+important aspect of this structure which should be noted is that
+keywords used to identify the parent node type, such as the keyword
+\code{if} in an \emph{if\_stmt}, are included in the node tree without
+any special treatment. For example, the \code{if} keyword is
represented by the tuple \code{(1, 'if')}, where \code{1} is the
numeric value associated with all \code{NAME} elements, including
-variable and function names defined by the user.
+variable and function names defined by the user. In an alternate form
+returned when line number information is requested, the same token
+might be represented as \code{(1, 'if', 12)}, where the \code{12}
+represents the line number at which the terminal symbol was found.
Terminal elements are represented in much the same way, but without
any child elements and the addition of the source text which was
@@ -70,27 +77,47 @@
of this module, but are provided for three purposes: to allow an
application to amortize the cost of processing complex parse trees, to
provide a parse tree representation which conserves memory space when
-compared to the Python tuple representation, and to ease the creation
-of additional modules in C which manipulate parse trees. A simple
-``wrapper'' module may be created in Python to hide the use of AST
-objects.
+compared to the Python list or tuple representation, and to ease the
+creation of additional modules in C which manipulate parse trees. A
+simple ``wrapper'' module may be created in Python to hide the use of
+AST objects.
The \code{parser} module defines the following functions:
\renewcommand{\indexsubitem}{(in module parser)}
-\begin{funcdesc}{ast2tuple}{ast}
+\begin{funcdesc}{ast2list}{ast\optional{\, line\_info\code{ = 0}}}
This function accepts an AST object from the caller in
-\code{\var{ast}} and returns a Python tuple representing the
-equivelent parse tree. The resulting tuple representation can be used
-for inspection or the creation of a new parse tree in tuple form.
+\code{\var{ast}} and returns a Python list representing the
+equivelent parse tree. The resulting list representation can be used
+for inspection or the creation of a new parse tree in list form.
This function does not fail so long as memory is available to build
-the tuple representation.
+the list representation. If a parse tree will only be used for
+inspection, \code{ast2tuple()} should be used instead to reduce memory
+consumption and fragmentation. When modifications are to be made to
+the parse tree, this function is significantly faster than retrieving
+a tuple representation and converting that to nested lists.
+
+If the \code{line\_info} flag is given true value, line number
+information will be included for all terminal tokens as a third
+element of the list representing the token. This information is
+omitted if the flag is false or omitted.
\end{funcdesc}
+\begin{funcdesc}{ast2tuple}{ast\optional{\, line\_info\code{ = 0}}}
+This function accepts an AST object from the caller in
+\code{\var{ast}} and returns a Python tuple representing the
+equivelent parse tree. Other than returning a tuple instead of a
+list, this function is identical to \code{ast2list()}.
-\begin{funcdesc}{compileast}{ast\optional{\, filename \code{= '<ast>'}}}
+If the \code{line\_info} flag is given true value, line number
+information will be included for all terminal tokens as a third
+element of the list representing the token. This information is
+omitted if the flag is false or omitted.
+\end{funcdesc}
+
+\begin{funcdesc}{compileast}{ast\optional{\, filename\code{ = '<ast>'}}}
The Python byte compiler can be invoked on an AST object to produce
code objects which can be used as part of an \code{exec} statement or
a call to the built-in \code{eval()} function. This function provides
@@ -98,6 +125,16 @@
\code{\var{ast}} to the parser, using the source file name specified
by the \code{\var{filename}} parameter. The default value supplied
for \code{\var{filename}} indicates that the source was an AST object.
+
+Compiling an AST object may result in exceptions related to
+compilation; an example would be a \code{SyntaxError} caused by the
+parse tree for \code{del f(0)}; this statement is considered legal
+within the formal grammar for Python but is not a legal language
+construct. The \code{SyntaxError} raised for this condition is
+actually generated by the Python byte-compiler normally, which is why
+it can be raised at this point by the \code{parser} module. Most
+causes of compilation failure can be diagnosed programmatically by
+inspection of the parse tree.
\end{funcdesc}
@@ -138,19 +175,33 @@
\end{funcdesc}
-\begin{funcdesc}{tuple2ast}{tuple}
-This function accepts a parse tree represented as a tuple and builds
-an internal representation if possible. If it can validate that the
-tree conforms to the Python syntax and all nodes are valid node types
-in the host version of Python, an AST object is created from the
-internal representation and returned to the called. If there is a
-problem creating the internal representation, or if the tree cannot be
-validated, a \code{ParserError} exception is thrown. An AST object
-created this way should not be assumed to compile correctly; normal
-exceptions thrown by compilation may still be initiated when the AST
-object is passed to \code{compileast()}. This will normally indicate
-problems not related to syntax (such as a \code{MemoryError}
-exception).
+\begin{funcdesc}{sequence2ast}{sequence}
+This function accepts a parse tree represented as a sequence and
+builds an internal representation if possible. If it can validate
+that the tree conforms to the Python grammar and all nodes are valid
+node types in the host version of Python, an AST object is created
+from the internal representation and returned to the called. If there
+is a problem creating the internal representation, or if the tree
+cannot be validated, a \code{ParserError} exception is thrown. An AST
+object created this way should not be assumed to compile correctly;
+normal exceptions thrown by compilation may still be initiated when
+the AST object is passed to \code{compileast()}. This will normally
+indicate problems not related to syntax (such as a \code{MemoryError}
+exception), but may also be due to constructs such as the result of
+parsing \code{del f(0)}, which escapes the Python parser but is
+checked by the bytecode compiler.
+
+Sequences representing terminal tokens may be represented as either
+two-element lists of the form \code{(1, 'name')} or as three-element
+lists of the form \code{(1, 'name', 56)}. If the third element is
+present, it is assumed to be a valid line number. The line number
+may be specified for any subset of the terminal symbols in the input
+tree.
+\end{funcdesc}
+
+\begin{funcdesc}{tuple2ast}{sequence}
+This is the same function as \code{sequence2ast}. This entry point is
+maintained for backward compatibility.
\end{funcdesc}
@@ -166,9 +217,9 @@
is generally produced for validation failures rather than the built in
\code{SyntaxError} thrown during normal parsing.
The exception argument is either a string describing the reason of the
-failure or a tuple containing a tuple causing the failure from a parse
-tree passed to \code{tuple2ast()} and an explanatory string. Calls to
-\code{tuple2ast()} need to be able to handle either type of exception,
+failure or a tuple containing a sequence causing the failure from a parse
+tree passed to \code{sequence2ast()} and an explanatory string. Calls to
+\code{sequence2ast()} need to be able to handle either type of exception,
while calls to other functions in the module will only need to be
aware of the simple string values.
\end{excdesc}
@@ -182,9 +233,36 @@
to the descriptions of each function for detailed information.
+\subsection{AST Objects}
+
+AST objects (returned by \code{expr()}, \code{suite()}, and
+\code{tuple2ast()}, described above) have no methods of their own.
+Some of the functions defined which accept an AST object as their
+first argument may change to object methods in the future.
+
+Ordered and equality comparisons are supported between AST objects.
+
+
\subsection{Example}
-A simple example:
+The parser modules allows operations to be performed on the parse tree
+of Python source code before the bytecode is generated, and provides
+for inspection of the parse tree for information gathering purposes as
+well. While many useful operations may take place between parsing and
+bytecode generation, the simplest operation is to do nothing. For
+this purpose, using the \code{parser} module to produce an
+intermediate data structure is equivelent to the code
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+>>> code = compile('a + 5', 'eval')
+>>> a = 5
+>>> eval(code)
+10
+\end{verbatim}
+
+The equivelent operation using the \code{parser} module is somewhat
+longer, and allows the intermediate internal parse tree to be retained
+as an AST object:
\begin{verbatim}
>>> import parser
@@ -195,18 +273,187 @@
10
\end{verbatim}
+Some applications can benfit from access to the parse tree itself, and
+can take advantage of the intermediate data structure provided by the
+\code{parser} module. The remainder of this section of examples will
+demonstrate how the intermediate data structure can provide access to
+module documentation defined in docstrings without requiring that the
+code being examined be imported into a running interpreter. This can
+be very useful for performing analyses of untrusted code.
-\subsection{AST Objects}
+Generally, the example will demonstrate how the parse tree may be
+traversed to distill interesting information. Two functions and a set
+of classes is developed which provide programmatic access to high
+level function and class definitions provided by a module. The
+classes extract information from the parse tree and provide access to
+the information at a useful semantic level, one function provides a
+simple low-level pattern matching capability, and the other function
+defines a high-level interface to the classes by handling file
+operations on behalf of the caller. All source files mentioned here
+which are not part of the Python installation are located in the
+\file{Demo/parser} directory of the distribution.
-AST objects (returned by \code{expr()}, \code{suite()}, and
-\code{tuple2ast()}, described above) have no methods of their own.
-Some of the functions defined which accept an AST object as their
-first argument may change to object methods in the future.
+To construct the upper-level extraction methods, we need to know what
+the parse tree structure looks like and how much of it we actually
+need to be concerned about. Python uses a moderately deep parse tree,
+so there are a large number of intermediate nodes. It is important to
+read and understand the formal grammar used by Python. This is
+specified in the file \file{Grammar/Grammar} in the distribution.
+Consider the simplest case of interest when searching for docstrings:
+a module consisting of a docstring and nothing else:
-Ordered and equality comparisons are supported between AST objects.
+\begin{verbatim}
+"""Some documentation.
+"""
+\end{verbatim}
-\renewcommand{\indexsubitem}{(ast method)}
+Using the interpreter to take a look at the parse tree, we find a
+bewildering mass of numbers and parentheses, with the documentation
+buried deep in the nested tuples:
-%\begin{funcdesc}{empty}{}
-%Empty the can into the trash.
-%\end{funcdesc}
+\begin{verbatim}
+>>> import parser
+>>> import pprint
+>>> ast = parser.suite(open('docstring.py').read())
+>>> tup = parser.ast2tuple(ast)
+>>> pprint.pprint(tup)
+(257,
+ (264,
+ (265,
+ (266,
+ (267,
+ (307,
+ (287,
+ (288,
+ (289,
+ (290,
+ (292,
+ (293,
+ (294,
+ (295,
+ (296,
+ (297,
+ (298,
+ (299,
+ (300, (3, '"""Some documentation.\012"""'))))))))))))))))),
+ (4, ''))),
+ (4, ''),
+ (0, ''))
+\end{verbatim}
+
+The numbers at the first element of each node in the tree are the node
+types; they map directly to terminal and non-terminal symbols in the
+grammar. Unfortunately, they are represented as integers in the
+internal representation, and the Python structures generated do not
+change that. However, the \code{symbol} and \code{token} modules
+provide symbolic names for the node types and dictionaries which map
+from the integers to the symbolic names for the node types.
+
+In the output presented above, the outermost tuple contains four
+elements: the integer \code{257} and three additional tuples. Node
+type \code{257} has the symbolic name \code{file_input}. Each of
+these inner tuples contains an integer as the first element; these
+integers, \code{264}, \code{4}, and \code{0}, represent the node types
+\code{stmt}, \code{NEWLINE}, and \code{ENDMARKER}, respectively.
+Note that these values may change depending on the version of Python
+you are using; consult \file{symbol.py} and \file{token.py} for
+details of the mapping. It should be fairly clear that the outermost
+node is related primarily to the input source rather than the contents
+of the file, and may be disregarded for the moment. The \code{stmt}
+node is much more interesting. In particular, all docstrings are
+found in subtrees which are formed exactly as this node is formed,
+with the only difference being the string itself. The association
+between the docstring in a similar tree and the defined entity (class,
+function, or module) which it describes is given by the position of
+the docstring subtree within the tree defining the described
+structure.
+
+By replacing the actual docstring with something to signify a variable
+component of the tree, we allow a simple pattern matching approach may
+be taken to checking any given subtree for equivelence to the general
+pattern for docstrings. Since the example demonstrates information
+extraction, we can safely require that the tree be in tuple form
+rather than list form, allowing a simple variable representation to be
+\code{['variable\_name']}. A simple recursive function can implement
+the pattern matching, returning a boolean and a dictionary of variable
+name to value mappings.
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+from types import ListType, TupleType
+
+def match(pattern, data, vars=None):
+ if vars is None:
+ vars = {}
+ if type(pattern) is ListType:
+ vars[pattern[0]] = data
+ return 1, vars
+ if type(pattern) is not TupleType:
+ return (pattern == data), vars
+ if len(data) != len(pattern):
+ return 0, vars
+ for pattern, data in map(None, pattern, data):
+ same, vars = match(pattern, data, vars)
+ if not same:
+ break
+ return same, vars
+\end{verbatim}
+
+Using this simple recursive pattern matching function and the symbolic
+node types, the pattern for the candidate docstring subtrees becomes:
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+>>> DOCSTRING_STMT_PATTERN = (
+... symbol.stmt,
+... (symbol.simple_stmt,
+... (symbol.small_stmt,
+... (symbol.expr_stmt,
+... (symbol.testlist,
+... (symbol.test,
+... (symbol.and_test,
+... (symbol.not_test,
+... (symbol.comparison,
+... (symbol.expr,
+... (symbol.xor_expr,
+... (symbol.and_expr,
+... (symbol.shift_expr,
+... (symbol.arith_expr,
+... (symbol.term,
+... (symbol.factor,
+... (symbol.power,
+... (symbol.atom,
+... (token.STRING, ['docstring'])
+... )))))))))))))))),
+... (token.NEWLINE, '')
+... ))
+\end{verbatim}
+
+Using the \code{match()} function with this pattern, extracting the
+module docstring from the parse tree created previously is easy:
+
+\begin{verbatim}
+>>> found, vars = match(DOCSTRING_STMT_PATTERN, tup[1])
+>>> found
+1
+>>> vars
+{'docstring': '"""Some documentation.\012"""'}
+\end{verbatim}
+
+Once specific data can be extracted from a location where it is
+expected, the question of where information can be expected
+needs to be answered. When dealing with docstrings, the answer is
+fairly simple: the docstring is the first \code{stmt} node in a code
+block (\code{file_input} or \code{suite} node types). A module
+consists of a single \code{file_input} node, and class and function
+definitions each contain exactly one \code{suite} node. Classes and
+functions are readily identified as subtrees of code block nodes which
+start with \code{(stmt, (compound_stmt, (classdef, ...} or
+\code{(stmt, (compound_stmt, (funcdef, ...}. Note that these subtrees
+cannot be matched by \code{match()} since it does not support multiple
+sibling nodes to match without regard to number. A more elaborate
+matching function could be used to overcome this limitation, but this
+is sufficient for the example.
+
+
+
+%%
+%% end of file