Pattern Matching Language Syntax Opinons

Hello:


I have been redesigning my pattern matching language grammar from
the ground up using Sandstone's Visual Parse++, an LALR(k) tool that
makes writing grammars a snap. So far, I have produced a grammar for
the following pattern:


{S :: {+=n'a';^n'b';^n'c';}}


Can one see by looking at the above that it expresses a match of the
famous a^n b^n c^n problem against S? I'm trying to make the
syntax of this new LPM compact, yet expressive. In old-style LPM,
the above would not have been expressable.


Another form of the above might read:


{S :: {1-10'abc' :: {+=n'a';^n'b';^n'c';}}}


which adds the precondition that the a^n b^n c^n pattern will only
be applied to a substring that first matches the [a-z]{1-10}
clause.


Does this seem a manageable syntax to pursue? I can provide the
entire LALR(1) grammar to anyone who might want to take a looksee.


Thanks,


Quinn Tyler Jackson
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