[antlr-interest] ANTLR version 2.X to ANTLR version 3.X (the horror, the horror)

Raphael Reitzig r_reitzi at cs.uni-kl.de
Sun Aug 10 09:19:46 PDT 2008


Hi!

"Kay Röpke" <kroepke at classdump.org> wrote (Sat Aug  9 17:19:21 2008):

> I think the main problem is that when programmers realize they need  
> to parse something, they often want to parse very ambiguous and  
> ill-defined languages. Creating something that "just works" is hard  
> for those types of languages, hence the fuck-up part.
That, of course, is a hindrance no tool can feature away. I vote for  
language theory for everyone!
("Bah, what do I need computer scientists for? I can program well  
enough myself!" a friend of mine, astrophysicist)

> Often I wonder if people new to ANTLR even bother to check out the  
> "getting started" page on the wiki. It's quite disturbing to me to  
> think they do not, because when I'm new to a tool I might start  
> playing with it as well without reading anything about it, but once  
> I don't understand something, I turn to articles or blogs.
Personally, I did not follow the guidelines very closely. I began  
directly with my original problem (it's not that hard). But I realized  
soon I produced a mess. I then took the old-school path and ordered  
The Book. I hope that Book >= Wiki holds? If not, future editions  
should contain some stuff from there.

> I just realize that probably the biggest source of confusion are  
> combined grammars. If a beginner does not grasp the important  
> distinction between lexer and parser rules, it's probably best to  
> start out with separate grammars for those. Then, all of a sudden,  
> realization comes when you see that separation into two files. :)
I do not understand why combined gramars exist at all. If the only way  
to work with them properly is to separate parser and lexer rules  
completely, well, then it doesn't matter if I have one ore two files.
Given, of course, that ANTLRWorks interprets and debugs as smoothly as  
with combined gramars with separated ones.

Greetings

Raphael

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