Standard ECMA-367 Eiffel: Analysis, design and programming language

Summary

This document provides the full reference for the Eiffel language. Eiffel is a method of software construction and a language applicable to the analysis, design, implementation and maintenance of software systems. This Standard covers only the language, with an emphasis on the implementation aspects. As a consequence, the word “Eiffel” in the rest of this document is an abbreviation for “the Eiffel language”.

The Standard specifies:

• The form of legal basic constituents of Eiffel texts, or lexical properties of the language;
• The structure of legal Eiffel texts made of lexically legal constituents, or syntax properties;
• Supplementary restrictions imposed on syntactically legal Eiffel texts, or validity properties;
• The computational effect of executing valid Eiffel texts, or semantic properties;
• Some requirements on a conforming implementation of Eiffel, such as the ability to produce certain forms of automatic documentation.

The Standard does not specify:

• The requirements that a computing environment must meet to support the translation, execution and other handling of Eiffel texts;
• The semantic properties of an Eiffel text if it or its data exceed the capacity of a particular computing environment;
• The mechanisms for translating Eiffel texts into a form that can be executed in a computing environment;
• The mechanisms for starting the execution of the result of such a translation;
• Other mechanisms for handling Eiffel texts and interacting with users of the language.