How to compile LEX/YACC files on Windows?

Question

I\'m having Lex and YACC files to parse my files (.l file and .y file).

How to compile those files and how to mak

Answer 1

What you (probably want) are Flex 2.5.4 (some people are now "maintaining" it and producing newer versions, but IMO they've done more to screw it up than fix any real shortcomings) and byacc 1.9 (likewise). (Edit 2017-11-17: Flex 2.5.4 is not available on Sourceforge any more, and the Flex github repository only goes back to 2.5.5. But you can apparently still get it from a Gnu ftp server at ftp://ftp.gnu.org/old-gnu/gnu-0.2/src/flex-2.5.4.tar.gz.)

Since it'll inevitably be recommended, I'll warn against using Bison. Bison was originally written by Robert Corbett, the same guy who later wrote Byacc, and he openly states that at the time he didn't really know or understand what he was doing. Unfortunately, being young and foolish, he released it under the GPL and now the GPL fans push it as the answer to life's ills even though its own author basically says it should be thought of as essentially a beta test product -- but by the convoluted reasoning of GPL fans, byacc's license doesn't have enough restrictions to qualify as "free"!