Ragel compiles executable finite state machines from regular languages. Ragel targets C, C++, Objective-C, D, Java and Ruby. Ragel state machines can not only recognize byte sequences as regular expression machines do, but can also execute code at arbitrary points in the recognition of a regular language. Code embedding is done using inline operators that do not disrupt the regular language syntax.

Sparse provides a set of annotations designed to convey semantic information about types, such as what address space pointers point to, or what locks a function acquires or releases.

This document explains how to construct a compiler using lex and yacc. Lex and yacc are tools used to generate lexical analyzers and parsers. I assume you can program in C, and understand data structures such as linked-lists and trees.

Ragel compiles executable finite state machines from regular languages. Ragel targets C, C++, Objective-C, D, Java and Ruby.

re2c is a tool for writing very fast and very flexible scanners. Unlike any other such tool, re2c focuses on generating high efficient code for regular expression matching.