Re: Re: compiler books, was Looking for Compiler Design in C, by Holub

Chris Clark said:


> However, it is not clear to me that learning to write a parser
> generator teaches one very much about writing a compiler or even about
> how to write a parser. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a book that
> does a good job of teaching one how to write a grammar. (There are
> some books that at least give a good rough draft of how to build a
> compiler provided that one has a grammar.)


As a parser generator author, I have to agree on all the points. I'm
not convinced that every undergraduate could write one as a term
project, however.


> Even today, years later, there are still edges that are rough and
> need sanding. If you ask Terence about ANTLR, you'll find that
> story is similar.


PAISLEI is a year old now, and the underlying engine about 5 years
old, and it's *just* starting to be useful in any meaningful sense. I
anticipate another year before a full compiler can be implemented with
it. (Or should I say - I anticipate it will take me a year to write
an entire C++ grammar with it because of my other projects.)


I think (just a hypothesis) that parser generator writers have to be
particularly obsessed with their creation to produce anything of
consequence in the long run.
--
Quinn Tyler Jackson
http://www.qtj.net/~quinn/

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