Re: is lex useful?

Scott.Nicol@infoadvan.com (Scott Nicol) writes:
>- Parser-scanner interactions can get really hairy (a common way to fix
> difficult parsing problems is to have the parser fiddle with the scanner,
> so the scanner will handle it).


IMHO, This is by far the most important reason to write your own lexer.
You can often simplified yacc grammar by doing this. To some this may be
"bad" design (wrong use of tools/inappropiate coupling), to others, it is
"smart" design! Anyway, I feel the later.


Regards,
Mandeep
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mandeep S Dhami
Motorola Wireless Data Division Email: dhami@mdd.comm.mot.com
11411 Number Five Road Office: (604) 241-6334
Richmond, BC, Canada V7 A4 Z3 Fax: (604) 241-6042
[I've never had any trouble putting gross hacks into my flex lexers using
start states. I'd be interested in examples of scanner hackery that's hard
in flex but easy in a hand-coded lexer. -John]
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