Compiler-compiler

In computer science, a compiler-compiler or compiler generator is a tool that creates a parser, interpreter, or compiler from some form of formal description of a language and machine. The earliest and still most common form of compiler-compiler is a parser generator, whose input is a grammar (usually in BNF) of a programming language, and whose generated output is the source code of a parser often used as a component of a compiler. Similarly, code generator-generators (such as JBurg) exist, but such tools have not yet reached maturity.