Parser translator system and method

A method of operating a data processing program in accordance with at least one business rule, said method comprising:

• reading an input stream encoding said at least one business rule;
• evaluating said input stream in accordance with a grammar encoding an external query to least one externally represented data or metadata state;
• performing, in the context of said evaluating, said external query;
• and
• supplying an operating directive for said data processing program, said operating directive corresponding to said at least one business rule and sensitive to said at least one externally-represented data or metadata state.

A data-driven system for providing business rule interoperability amongst multiple data processing programs, said system comprising:

• first and second grammar encodings respectively specific to first and second data processing programs, both said first and said second grammar encodings including an external query;
• an input stream encoding at least one business rule;
• and
• a single parser-translator component for,
• based on said first grammar encoding, parsing said input stream and translating said input stream into a first data transformation for use in conjunction with said first data processing program;
• and
• based on said second grammar encoding, parsing said input stream and translating said input stream into a second data transformation for use in conjunction said second data processing program.

A method of interactively specifying a transformation of data from a first representation to a second representation thereof, said method comprising:

• supplying a computer readable encoding of a grammar, said grammar including syntax rules descriptive of sequences of tokens in a data transformation language;
• and
• dictionary entries descriptive of terminal ones of said tokens, said dictionary entries including at least a first and a second entry respectively descriptive of at least first and second tokens, said first entry specifying at least one data transformation language element corresponding to said first token, and said second entry specifying an action to dynamically-query an external data source to resolve at least one data transformation language element corresponding to said second token;
• based on said grammar encoding, presenting a user with at least one choice for a first element in a data transformation statement in accordance with said syntax rules;
• and
• presenting a user with successive at least one choices for successive elements in said data transformation statement in accordance with said syntax rules, wherein at least one of said successive element presentings includes performing a dynamic query in accordance with said second entry of said dictionary.

A computer program product including a grammar encoded by at least one computer readable medium, said grammar comprising:

• a set of phrase structure rules defining orderings of tokens in said data transformation language;
• a dictionary of entries descriptive of terminal ones of said tokens;
• and
• at least one encoding of a query to an external data or metadata store,
• wherein said grammar at least partially defines operation of a parser-translator to allow interactive definition of data transformation statements based in part on information accessed by performing said query.

A computer program product including a grammar transmitted in at least one computer readable medium, said grammar at least partially defining actions to be performed by a computer in response thereto, said grammar comprising:

• a set of phrase structure rules defining orderings of tokens in said data transformation language;
• a dictionary of entries descriptive of terminal ones of said tokens;
• and
• at least one encoding of a query to an external data or metadata store,
• wherein said grammar at least partially defines operation of a parser-translator to allow interactive definition of data transformation statements based in part on information accessed by performing said query.