RE: yacc question / n! rules explosion

Quinn Tyler Jackson <qjackson@shaw.ca>
5 May 2003 23:33:49 -0400

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Re: yacc question / n! rules explosion cfc@world.std.com (Chris F Clark) (2003-04-27)
RE: yacc question / n! rules explosion qjackson@shaw.ca (Quinn Tyler Jackson) (2003-05-05)
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From: Quinn Tyler Jackson <qjackson@shaw.ca>
Newsgroups: comp.compilers
Date: 5 May 2003 23:33:49 -0400
Organization: Compilers Central
References: 03-04-117
Keywords: parse, yacc
Posted-Date: 05 May 2003 23:33:49 EDT

> > The only alternative i see is write something like
> > file = element | file element; element = A | B | C; and
> do some checks
> > in the actions (eg some counters)
>
> As our moderator replied, there is nothing in BNF (or even
> most EBNF's
> that I am aware of) which handles permutation grammars. Moreover,
> even when the tool supports a permutation syntax, the
> resulting parser
> (or lexer) ends up with the combinatorial explosion in states.


A-BNF has the permutation phrase [Cameron] syntax, and allows
"relaxed" permutation phrases in the form:


S ::= <<A B C>>
A ::= "a";
B ::= "b";
C ::= "c";


The "relaxed" form does not allow any of A, B, or C to derive lamda,
and thus, cannot handle this:


S ::= <<A B C>>
A ::= "a";
B ::= ["b"];
C ::= "c";


At implementation, it does not generate state explosion.


[Cameron] Robert D. Cameron, "Extending Context-Free Grammars with
Permutation Phrases," LOPLAS 2(1-4): 85-94, 1993.


--
Quinn Tyler Jackson


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