generating recursive parsers from grammars.

"Lowell Thomas" <lowell@coasttocoastresearch.com>
20 Feb 2006 21:41:32 -0500

          From comp.compilers
Related articles
generating recursive parsers from grammars. rpboland@gmail.com (Ralph Boland) (2006-02-03)
Re: generating recursive parsers from grammars. peteg42@gmail.com (Peter Gammie) (2006-02-06)
Re: generating recursive parsers from grammars. grosch@cocolab.de (Josef Grosch) (2006-02-06)
Re: generating recursive parsers from grammars. scavadini@ucse.edu.ar (2006-02-07)
generating recursive parsers from grammars. lowell@coasttocoastresearch.com (Lowell Thomas) (2006-02-20)
| List of all articles for this month |
From: "Lowell Thomas" <lowell@coasttocoastresearch.com>
Newsgroups: comp.compilers
Date: 20 Feb 2006 21:41:32 -0500
Organization: Compilers Central
References: 06-02-039
Keywords: parse
Posted-Date: 20 Feb 2006 21:41:32 EST

You might have a look at APG, an ABNF Parser Generator tool that I have
written (www.coasttocoastresearch.com). Its parsers use a recursive-decent
algorithm and as far as I can determine they can handle any context-free
grammar. With ABNF left recursion can be eliminated via the repetition (*)
operator. Other types of recursion, except for cyclical recursion and
infinite strings, are not a problem. It uses a hard-coded disambiguation
rule to resolve ambiguities, but the source code is available other rules
can be implemented. It is not a mainstream method but I have found it to
work well for all grammars that I have tried so far, including
dangling-else, expressions and an expression/declaration abstraction that
requires semantic predicates.


I'd be interested in hearing about your experience with APG if you decide to
give it a try.


Lowell Thomas


Post a followup to this message

Return to the comp.compilers page.
Search the comp.compilers archives again.