I am not a theorist…

As I’m sure regular followers of my blog are aware, I have a weakness for disclaimers. As I’ve starting thinking about how I want to talk in more detail about how the MGrammar parser generator works, I felt compelled to make yet another disclaimer: I am not a computer science theorist.

The field of parser generation is an old and storied one (at least, relative to a lot of other things having to do with computers) and there’s a lot of theory that’s built up around it. I simply ask my readers to keep in mind that I am but a humble practitioner, same as they are, and I make no great claims to deep insight or great knowledge of the full theory of parsers. I can not hope to even touch the hem of the garment of those who have gone before me, particularly these guys:

Book Cover

So if you really want to understand the difference between a LL(k) and a LALR(1) parser, go buy the book. Otherwise, you’re stuck with my simplistic explanations.

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