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This report describes a recently developed technique for the rapid realization of compilers for new source languages and new target machines. The method is built around a table-driven translation algorithm. This algorithm is embodied in a small general-purpose (language- and machine-independent) program, called the ''Translater'', which accepts strings of characters, syntactically analyzes them, and edits pseudo-code macro-instructions, performing arbitrarily complex investigations of syntactic context to decide this emission. The Translater is particularized to a given source-target pair by a set of tables which define the syntax of the source language and the strategy to be used in studying context and emitting macros. The newly-developed technique consists of the creation of a readable, formal language for describing both the syntax and the strategy of macro generation; thus, the Translater can, by translating a message in this new language, create an instance of its own tables.