Practical, general parser combinators

Izmaylova, Anastasia; Afroozeh, Abdolkarim; Storm, Tijs van der

doi:10.1145/2847538.2847539

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…To address these complexities or to enhance the efficiency of Syntactical Analysis, various strategies have been explored. These include the implementation of combinators [20,21] and the optimization of existing combinators [22][23][24]. In the context of functional programming, the design of such combinators, conceptualized as functions that operate on other functions, introduces additional layers of complexity.…”

Section: Limitations Of Conventional Parsing Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Innovative Approach to Syntax-Free Interpretation in Functional Programming Languages

Alaqeeli

2023

ISI

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In the realm of programming languages, interpreters fundamentally rely on syntax analysis (parsing) for establishing a correct evaluation hierarchy. Traditional parsing methods, however, present limitations in terms of optimization. This study introduces an innovative approach that circumvents syntax analysis in the interpretation of functional programming languages. The proposed method employs a novel subroutine, transforming program expressions into a series of atomic expressions, herein referred to as the "molecular program." Each atomic expression within this molecular program constitutes an element of the program's lexicon, assigned a unique identifier that supplants its role in the original expression. The evaluation process adopts a recursive methodology, where the evaluation of a single variable invariably leads to the sequential evaluation of related variables. For the purposes of clarity and demonstration, this approach is exemplified using Lucid, a notable functional programming language. It is posited that this syntax-free interpretation method can be universally applied to any functional programming language that operates on the principles of expressions, functions, or formulas. The efficacy of this method is validated through rigorous testing, suggesting an enhancement in the efficiency of programming language interpretation.

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Section: Limitations Of Conventional Parsing Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Innovative Approach to Syntax-Free Interpretation in Functional Programming Languages

Alaqeeli

2023

ISI

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“…However, the set of LR(1) languages is a strict subset of the set of context-free languages. For context-free languages which are not LR(1), there exist well-known algorithms like Earley's [4,9], GLR [24], GLL [22] or general parser combinators [15]. These algorithms can base their decision on an arbitrary number of lookups, can cope with ambiguous grammars by generating parse forests instead of parse trees, and generally have a cubic complexity.…”

Section: About Parsing Technologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morbig: A Static parser for POSIX shell

Régis-Gianas

Jeannerod

Treinen

2020

Journal of Computer Languages

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The POSIX shell language defies conventional wisdom of compiler construction on several levels: The shell language was not designed for static parsing, but with an intertwining of syntactic analysis and execution by expansion in mind. Token recognition cannot be specified by regular expressions, lexical analysis depends on the parsing context and the evaluation context, and the shell grammar given in the specification is ambiguous. Besides, the unorthodox design choices of the shell language fit badly in the usual specification languages used to describe other programming languages. This makes the standard usage of Lex and Yacc as a pipeline inadequate for the implementation of a parser for POSIX shell. The existing implementations of shell parsers are complex and use low-level character-level parsing code which is difficult to relate to the POSIX specification. We find it hard to trust such parsers, especially when using them for writing automatic verification tools for shell scripts.This paper offers an overview of the technical difficulties related to the syntactic analysis of the POSIX shell language. It also describes how we have resolved these difficulties using advanced parsing techniques (namely speculative parsing, parser state introspection, context-dependent lexical analysis and longest-prefix parsing) while keeping the implementation at a sufficiently high level of abstraction so that experts can check that the POSIX standard is respected. The resulting tool, called Morbig, is an open-source static parser for a well-defined and realistic subset of the POSIX shell language.

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“…Johnson showed that recognition combinators written in continuation-passing style can be extended with memoisation to solve the leftrecursion problem [16]. Afroozeh, Izmaylova and Van der Storm, build on Johnson's recognition combinators to develop general parser combinators [36]. Frost, Hafiz, and Callaghan [35] handle left-recursion with a 'curtailment' procedure, making at most as many recursive calls as there are characters remaining in the input t-string.…”

Section: Conventional Parser Combinatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Purely functional GLL parsing

Binsbergen

Scott

Johnstone

2020

Journal of Computer Languages

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Generalised parsing has become increasingly important in the context of software language design and several compiler generators and language workbenches have adopted generalised parsing algorithms such as GLR and GLL. The original GLL parsing algorithms are described in low-level pseudo-code as the output of a parser generator. This paper explains GLL parsing differently, defining the FUN-GLL algorithm as a collection of pure, mathematical functions and focussing on the logic of the algorithm by omitting implementation details. In particular, the data structures are modelled by abstract sets and relations rather than specialised implementations. The description is further simplified by omitting lookahead and adopting the binary subtree representation of derivations to avoid the clerical overhead of graph construction. Conventional parser combinators inherit the drawbacks from the recursive descent algorithms they implement. Based on FUN-GLL, this paper defines generalised parser combinators that overcome these problems. The algorithm is described in the same notation and style as FUN-GLL and uses the same data structures. Both algorithms are explained as a generalisation of basic recursive descent algorithms. The generalised parser combinators of this paper have several advantages over combinator libraries that generate internal grammars. For example, with the generalised parser combinators it is possible to parse larger permutation phrases and to write parsers for languages that are not context-free. The 'BNF combinator library' is built around the generalised parser combinators. With the library, embedded and executable syntax specifications are written. The specifications contain semantic actions for interpreting programs and constructing syntax trees. The library takes advantage of Haskell's type-system to type-check semantic actions and Haskell's abstraction mechanism enables 'reuse through abstraction'. The practicality of the library is demonstrated by running parsers obtained from the syntax descriptions of several software languages.

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Practical, general parser combinators

Cited by 12 publications

References 22 publications

An Innovative Approach to Syntax-Free Interpretation in Functional Programming Languages

An Innovative Approach to Syntax-Free Interpretation in Functional Programming Languages

Morbig: A Static parser for POSIX shell

Purely functional GLL parsing

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