[ale] [OT] Writing a parser
Kevin Krumwiede
kjkrum at comcast.net
Thu Mar 18 04:23:37 EST 2004
I am working on a program to capture data from a MUD (actually, TW2002).
I've looked at the source for a couple parsers, including one made
specifically for that game, but because they are generated code I'm
having a lot of difficulty understanding how they work.
The gist of what I do understand is this (and somebody please tell me if
I'm wrong): parsers generally take a string of text and return a numeric
code signifying what pattern (if any) the text matches. A program can
then use that code to decide how to process the text. I assume that
sophisticated parsers take into account the preceding context of the
text when evaluating its pattern.
I am completely lost when it comes to the input languages of parser
generators. Anyone know of a good tutorial?
Thanks,
Krum
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