A third of Timeline 3.1 is new, added since the 3.0 version. Much of the new material is adapted from previous blog posts, both old and recent. Other material is completely new. The sections that are not new with 3.1 has been carefully reviewed and heavily revised. ]]>
This time, I have a trial implementation. I take on parsing of Haskell's significant whitespace, implementing all the examples in the 2010 Language Report and the classic "Gentle Introduction". By the time I'm done this amounts to a substantial subset of Haskell's syntax.
]]>If the state of the art of computer parsing is taken as anything close to its ultimate solution, then it is a case of "human exceptionalism" -- the human brain has some power that makes it much better at parsing than computers can be. It is very unlikely resorting to human exceptionalism as an explanation would be accepted for any other problem in computer science. Why is it accepted for parsing theory?]]>
"A lot has been written about parsing left recursion. Unfortunately, much of it simply adds to the mystery. In this post, I hope to frame the subject clearly and briefly."
]]>This is the second post of a pair on my Ocean of Awareness blog. (The first one was "Marpa and procedural parsing")
]]>It is often said that parsing is a "solved problem". Given the level of frustration with the state of the art, the underuse of the very powerful technique of Language-Oriented Programming due to problematic tools, and the vast superiority of human parsing ability over computers, this requires explanation.On what grounds would someone say that parsing is "solved"? To understand this, we need to look at the history of Parsing Theory. In fact, we'll have to start decades before computer Parsing Theory exists, with a now nearly-extinct school of linguistics, and its desire to put the field on strictly scientific basis.]]>
"The languages human beings use with each other are powerful, varied, flexible and endlessly retargetable. The parsers we use to communicate with computers are restrictive, repetitive in form, difficult to reprogram, and prohibitively hard to retarget. Is this because humans have a preternatural language ability?
"Or is there something wrong with the way we go about talking to computers? How the Theory of Parsing literature defines the term "language" may seem of only pedantic interest. But I will argue that it is a mistake which has everything to do with the limits of modern computer languages."]]>
For more about Marpa, my own parsing project, there is the semi-official web site, maintained by Ron Savage. The official, but more limited, Marpa website is my personal one. Comments on this post can be made in Marpa's Google group, or on our IRC channel: #marpa at freenode.net. ]]>
The link above is to the announcement on my own blog. You can also "cheat" and go straight to the timeline itself. For more about Marpa, my own parsing project, there is the semi-official web site, maintained by Ron Savage. The official, but more limited, Marpa website is my personal one. Comments on this post can be made in Marpa's Google group, or on our IRC channel: #marpa at freenode.net. ]]>