A Look Through the SN Compiler: Reverse Engineering Results

Naturalistic programming is a topic of great interest because it allows reducing the gap between the problem domain and the solution domain in the software creation process. SN is a naturalistic language prototype that as a result returns Java bytecode, uses indirect references, allows a higher level of description to de ne procedures, defines nouns that optionally possess a plural form, adjectives that combine with nouns either during definition or instantiation and finally, the prototype presents a limited ability to describe circumstances. The objective of the present work is to apply a reverse engineering process to the SN compiler to know the details of the implementation, identify its characteristics, and document the elements of the language of which there is little or no record. Reverse engineering recovers information about the design of the language and its compiler, which facilitates the understanding of the language. This paper presents the results of the reverse engineering process applied to the SN language compiler. The results include the organization of the SN code by class diagrams and package diagrams; on the other hand, the compilation process of SN programs is detailed. Both results provide insight into the current state of SN and its operation.