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Building a Transpiler

A transpiler translates code from one programming language to another, making it easier to migrate legacy codebases or create cross-platform solutions.

Architecture​

The transpiler follows a three-stage pipeline:

  1. Source Language Parsing: Parse the input code into an AST
  2. Transformation: Convert the source AST to a target language AST
  3. Code Generation: Generate the final target language code

Key Components​

  • Source Parser: Understands the input language syntax
  • Target Generator: Produces code in the target language
  • Transformation Engine: Maps between language constructs
  • Symbol Resolution: Handles cross-language reference mapping

Benefits​

  • Legacy Migration: Modernize old codebases
  • Cross-Platform: Share code between different environments
  • Language Evolution: Gradually adopt new language features
  • Tool Reuse: Leverage existing language tools and ecosystems

Implementation​

Using Starlasu, you can build transpilers by:

  1. Creating parsers for both source and target languages
  2. Defining transformation rules between AST structures
  3. Implementing code generators for the target language
  4. Testing with round-trip validation (parse → transform → generate → re-parse)