Semantics and Algorithms for Data-dependent Grammars

14 years 1 months ago

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Traditional parser generation technologies are incapable of handling the demands of modern programmers. In this paper, we present the design and theory of a new parsing engine, YAKKER, capable of handling the requirements of modern applications including (1) full scannerless context-free grammars with (2) regular expressions as right-hand sides for defining nonterminals. YAKKER also includes (3) facilities for binding variables to intermediate parse results and (4) using such bindings within arbitrary constraints to control parsing. These facilities allow the kind of data-dependent parsing commonly needed in systems applications, particularly those that operate over binary data. In addition, (5) nonterminals may be parameterized by arbitrary values, which e system good modularity and abstraction properties in the presence of data-dependent parsing. Finally, (6) legacy parsing libraries, such as sophisticated libraries for dates and times, may be directly incorporated into parser speci...

Yitzhak Mandelbaum, Trevor Jim, David Walker

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