Bracmat

Bracmat is software for exploration and transformation of uncharted and complex data. Bracmat employs a pattern matching technique that can handle string data (text) as well as structured data (XML, HTML, JSON, algebraic expressions, email, program code, ...).

The programming language construct for pattern matching supports associative pattern matching (known from regular expressions), and expression evaluation during pattern matching (comparable to guards in functional languages). The combination of pattern matching in (semi-)structured data with associative patterns that allow embedded expression evaluation is almost unique.

Bracmat is a good choice for tasks that require dynamic programming.

Since 2023, Bracmat can do floating point calculations. The motivation for implementing the 'UFP' object is the long fancied ability to create illustrations in e.g. SVG or PGM format from within Bracmat code. Therefore its name: 'Unfancyfied Floating Point'.

The only data type in UFP objects is the 64 bit double. UFP objects support multidimensional arrays, do not allow recursion and do not support pattern matching. In short, it is all that regular Bracmat isn't.

More than three hundred examples of Bracmat code can be found at Rosetta Code

This distribution contains the following directories and files:

demo Folder containing Mandelbrot set generating code in four languages.
- Mandelbrot.java
- mandel.c
- mandel.py
- mandelbrot.bra
- readme.md
doc
- CLIN26-poster.pdf
  
  Poster presented at the 26th Meeting of Computational Linguistics in the Netherlands (CLIN26) in Amsterdam on December 18, 2015.
- LT4DH14.pdf and LT4DH-2016-poster.pdf
  
  Paper and poster presented at the Language Technology four Digital Humanities workshop in Osaka, December 2016
- NLPwithBracmat.pdf
  
  Tour through Bracmat for computational linguists.
- bracmat.html (deleted, but uploaded to latest release)
  
  The documentation in HTML format, automatically generated from the file 'help'. Run bracmat. At the prompt, enter 'get$help'. Choose 'html', 'htmltable', or 'htmllatex' to generate this file.
- bracmat.pdf (deleted, but uploaded to latest release)
  
  Documentation in PDF format, generated from bracmat.tex, which, in turn, can be generated from the bracmat script 'help'. Run bracmat. At the prompt, enter 'get$help'. Choose 'htmllatex' to generate bracmat.tex. Use e.g. TeXstudio to create bracmat.pdf from bracmat.tex. Remember to rerun 'makeindex bracmat.idx' from the command line to update the index.
- help
  
  The Bracmat documentation is maintained in this file. The file is in Bracmat format. You have to run Bracmat and issue 'get$help' to use it as for on-line help. Edits have to take place in a text editor.
epoc
- bracmat.SIS
  
  Installation program for Psion 5MX and Ericsson MC218 PDAs. This file is not always up to date.
java-JNI

Java and C source code for creating a JNI (Java Native Interface) so the Bracmat evaluator can be called from the Java programming language.
- java
Java code
- java/bracmattest.java
  
  Example program showing how to evaluate a Bracmat expression from within a Java program
- jva/dk/cst/bracmat.java
  
  Java code that loads the Bracmat dynamic library.
- bracmatdll.cpp, bracmatdll.h
  
  Source and header files that are needed for building the Windows version of a Bracmat JNI, which requires Bracmat to be in a dynamic linked library.
- bracmattest.c
  
  Program source that links with a Bracmat dynamic library. For Linux.
- compileAndTestJNI.sh
  
  Linux script to create a Bracmat JNI. This file contains a comment that describes the steps to create a Bracmat JNI for the Windows platform using Visual C++.
- dk_cst_bracmat.c, dk_cst_bracmat.h
  
  Source and header files that are needed for building a Bracmat JNI, which requires Bracmat to be in a dynamic linked library.
- makeJNI.bat
  
  Batch file for Windows to create a Bracmat JNI. Should work with a number of versions of Microsoft's C-compiler.
Linux (deleted, executable uploaded to latest release)
- bracmat
  
  64 bit statically linked executable for Linux (tested with Ubuntu 16.04, 18.04 and 20.04)
macOS (deleted, executable uploaded to latest release)
- bracmat
  
  executable for Apple computers
Python-module

Python and Cython source code for creating a Python module 'prythat' so the Bracmat evaluator can be called from the Python programming language
- build-launch.bat
  
  Windows batch file for creating a Bracmat module that can be included in Python programs. Contains two Python commands. The first compiles and links the module, the second tests the result.
- build-launch.sh
  
  Linux bash script for creating a Bracmat module that can be included in Python programs. Contains two Python commands. The first compiles and links the module, the second tests the result.
- launch.py
  
  Python program that demonstrates evaluation of Bracmat expressions, also call back to Python. Tests the prythat module.
- prythat.pyx
  
  Cython source code that interfaces Python with Bracmat and vv.
- setup.py
  
  Makefile for building the module.
safe
- bracmatso.c
  
  Source file that includes bracmat.c after turning off functionality that we don't want in a JNI or Python module running in a production system: low level file manipulations, system() calls, and exit() which would bring the application container down.
singlesource
- Makefile
  
  Builds a 'standard' edition of bracmat, a 'safe' version of bracmat, a version for profiling, and a version for measuring code coverage.
- bracmat.c (deleted, created when building using 'make')
  
  All of the source code of the program in a single file. This file is generated and should not be permanently redacted by hand.
- bracmat.h
  
  A header file, needed when compiling Bracmat as a library.
- one.bra
  
  A bracmat script that combines all source code in the 'src' folder into a compilable single file, bracmat.c This bracmat.c replaces the original bracmat.c that was maintained by hand.
- CONFIGURE.COM
  
  Script that configures DESCRIP.MMS
- DESCRIP.MMS
  
  OpenVMS makefile.
src
- many .c and .h files
- Makefile
  
  Builds bracmat in two ways: either by compiling each .c file separately before linking, or by compiling potu.c, which, if the SINGLESOURCE is #defined, #includes all .c files in an order that necessitates a minimum of declarations. (This is also the order in which the source code in bracmat.c is organized.)
  
  Both ways should be kept working in future development.
  - SINGLESOURCE defined
    
    All .c files (except potu.c) #included in potu.c, while making all .h files that contain function or global variable declarations ineffective. This way of compilation forces a (partial) order on the inclusion of the .c files. In general, the lower level functions are toward the top of the list, while the higher level functions are closer to the bottom of the list. This order mimics the order in the original bracmat.c file.
  - SINGLESOURCE not defined
    
    All .c files compiled separately and then linked. In this way, we ensure that each .c file includes all needed header files.
  The name 'potu', like 'bracmat', stems from the 1741 novel Nicolai Klimii Iter Subterraneum by Ludvig Holberg. Both are places on the planet Nazar that is inside the Earth. Nazar is inhabited by intelligent trees.
- potu.c
  
  The main source file. Includes all other .c files if SINGLESOURCE is #defined.
- unicaseconv.c + unicaseconv.h
  
  Conversion to lowercase or uppercase, based on data extracted from https://unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/UnicodeData.txt You can update these files by cloning https://github.com/kuhumcst/letterfunc or https://github.com/BartJongejan/letterfunc and running letterfunc/updateTables/UnicodeData.bra
- unichartypes.c + unichartypes.h
  
  Categorization of characters in any of the general classes defined by unicode.org. Data extracted from https://unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/UnicodeData.txt You can update these files by cloning https://github.com/kuhumcst/letterfunc or https://github.com/BartJongejan/letterfunc and running letterfunc/updateTables/UnicodeData.bra
- several more .c and .h files
WebAssembly

All that is needed to create a version of Bracmat that runs in a browser.
- bracmatJS.html (deleted, executable uploaded to latest release)
  
  Bracmat compiled to WebAssembly and Javascript using emscripten, embedded in a single HTML-page. Nice for toy scripts. You can choose between pure JavaScript and JavaScript+WebAssembly. The latter produces smaller and faster, compiled code, but you probably will not be able to run bracmatJS.html straight from the filesystem in your browser. Instead run it in a (local) webserver. See emscriptenHowToHTML.sh for more details.
- edit-potuC.html.bra
  
  A Bracmat script that edits the output of the emscripten C-to-Javascript compiler and creates a HTML page that also contains a large amount of WebAssembly and a sliver of Javascript. The result i

Bracmat

Install / Use

README

Bracmat