C Grammar Quirk

My research group is exploring different C grammars for use in a project,
and we're a little surprised by a "feature" we found in the grammar in the
ANSI C standard (and, as a result, in many of the freely available YACC
grammars). The curious construction is (from the C99 standard):


    function-definition:
                    declaration-specifiers declarator declaration-list_opt \
                    compound-statement


    declarator:
                    pointer_opt direct-declarator


    direct-declarator:
                    identifier
                    ( declarator )
                    direct-declarator [ assignment-expression_opt ]
                    direct-declarator [ * ]
                    direct-declarator ( parameter-type-list )
                    direct-declarator ( identifier-list_opt )




So the following program:


    #include <stdio.h>
    int foo[] { printf("foo!"); }


is syntactically valid. Many grammars I have tried (e.g. Roskind's
C89 grammar) accept this. It is semantically bogus, of course, and is
rejected as such by any compiler I've tried. But that kind of construct
is *never* valid, so it could be rejected by the parser.


I understand that some issues of syntax are better left to semantic
analysis, but I don't see why that applies in this case. It does make the
grammar "simpler" (in terms of fewer productions vs. having a separate
"function-declarator" non-terminal), but it makes things harder for me to
understand -- what's the point in having a standard grammar if it doesn't
precisely define valid syntax?


Richard


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Richard C. Bilson http://plg.uwaterloo.ca/~rcbilson
                    Programming Languages Group, University of Waterloo

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