Re: [boost] Re: [ANN] Spirit C++ parser framework.

From: joel de guzman (joel_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-05-25 23:53:48

From: "Greg Colvin":

> None of the above bother me, but you are the designer.  EBNF
> is far enough away from algebra that I don't expect perfect
> analogies, and infix + has long been used for concatenation.

I disagree. EBNF operators are set operators on strings.
A parser is a recognizer for a *set* of strings.

> 
> What we really need is this:
> 
>    http://www.research.att.com/~bs/whitespace98.pdf
> 
> ;->

Revolutional!!! Especially when the author gets into unicode.
I'd say 1 or 2 decades more.

> And don't forget
> 
>    a*b*c
> 
> Commutative for numbers, but not matrices, and a common
> substitute in computer languages for
> 
>    a b c 
> 
> in algebra.  Nice high precedence too.

Clashes with the Kleene star.

Thanks for your comments.
Joel de Guzman