Which Antlr book is "best" ?

Question

I am short on funds and can only afford one. I am a total novice.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Answer 1

Based on this SO post, looks like this books is best.

Answer 2

If your really hard up for cash then you can get just the electronic copy of Terence Parr's excellent book on Antlr from the pragmatic programmers. I ordered both the PDF and paper copy when it was announced.

One word of caution though is that the book covers v3 of ANTLR. I use v2 at work as it has better C++ support.

http://pragprog.com/titles/tpantlr/the-definitive-antlr-reference

Answer 3

Parr's ANTLR book is the definitive source but is not easy going for a "total novice." For a total novice, you're going to be better off studying the ANTLR wiki for tutorials and examples that are close to your problem, and see if you can derive from them.

Answer 4

FWIW, this is a free article written by a colleague of mine. Parr has linked to it from his website. It may not replace a book but it is a solid introduction.

Answer 5

If money is a true problem, any that your local library has.

Answer 6

Sadly, Terence Parr's The Definitive Antlr Reference: Building Domain-Specific Languages (Pragmatic Programmers) is the best there is. I've rarely had to deal with a book so poorly laid out as this (making it a terrible reference), but ANTLR is so good that it's worth it to me to deal with the poor documentation problems and lack of any good book on the subject.