Post #1750306
2026-04-15 19:08 UTC
@j2kun @dougmerritt Robert Nystrom wrote, “Parsing doesn’t matter.” https://craftinginterpreters.com/compiling-expressions.html#design-note And personally I think the back end is more interesting and more fun!
Replies (1)
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@dougmerritt@mathstodon.xyz 2026-04-15 19:12
@benjamingeer @j2kun @thalia Bob has written some insightful stuff, and some stuff that is controversial, but he's not alone in feeling like parsing has been solved ever since Yacc/bison etc (even though recursive descent continues to have its points -- as do a variety of other techniques old and new) I can't speak for Bob, but many people mean "it's not the hard part" (which is true in many contexts, though not all [1]) [1] e.g. I believe that every CLI shell ever invented parses a different syntax, and not fully on purpose -- nor is the problem e.g. LR. 😉 @munificent