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

Quinn Tyler Jackson <qjackson@wave.home.com> wrote:
>Chris Clark said:
>> 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.)


So you and Chris and presumably Terence all agree about this. But
*why* is it so hard to bring a parser generator up to production quality?


I presume you're talking about far more than the widely known
issues of bringing e.g. data tables down to a reasonable size.


What are the issues y'all have run into? Are any of them preventable
in hindsight?


I've got a half-finished (or less) parser generator that I'd been thinking
about working on again one of these years, but maybe there's a reason such that
I shouldn't bother, but I don't know it yet. Save me from myself. :-)
Thanks,
Doug
--
Doug Merritt doug@netcom.com
Professional Wild-eyed Visionary Member, Crusaders for a Better Tomorrow

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