Re: bison and/or antlr ?

SomeDeveloper <somedeveloper@gmail.com> writes:


> 1. If I could learn / master ONLY ONE of these two tools, which one
> should I?


If you want to just learn a tool (especially just at the pragmatic
level), learn ANTLR first. If you then want to master a tool and you
have serious parsing ambitions (i.e. you want to understand the
theory), you want to master LR parsing ala yacc/bison. If your issues
are totally pragmatic, mastering antlr is sufficient.


> 2. If I could learn / master BOTH, which one should I pick first?


Learing antlr (recursive descent parsing) is considerably easier.
Learn it first.


> For theory / concepts... I'm intending to refer to the 1st edition of
> the Dragon Book, even though the 2nd, completely rewritten edition is
> now available. This is because I don't have a need to write a very
> sophisticated compiler, rather only a simple/crude one for our in-
> house development needs. I will be more than happy as long as I can
> transform language A to language B. Thus...
>
> 3. ...for my simple compiler writing needs, can I confidently rely on
> just one book: the Dragon Book 1st edition?


As much as any book can cover transforming grammars from LL to LR (and
that isn't really a covered topic in any textbook I've seen, mostly
because most LL grammars are already LR), the original "green dragon"
book is still just fine.


Just some opinions,
-Chris


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Chris Clark Internet : compres@world.std.com
Compiler Resources, Inc. Web Site : http://world.std.com/~compres
23 Bailey Rd voice : (508) 435-5016
Berlin, MA 01503 USA fax : (978) 838-0263 (24 hours)

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