computing the first set (concretely)

I know how to compute the first set however I am conflicted on how I
should represent the syntactical specification of my language in order
to compute the first set programmatically.


I was thinking along the lines of a two dimensional matrix by where
the rows are indexed by a particular nonterminal to find all terminals
for the given production.


It would look something like:


int table[X][Y] = { { ... } ,
                                                    { expr, '+', digit },
                                                    { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 },
                                                    { ... }
                                                };


and where my specification would look like:


...
expr: expr '+' digit ;
digit: 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ;
...


so then I can compute the set of terminals that would appear first
when applying some production. (my non terminals could be represented
with enumerated constants produced by enum)


I'm looking for feedback from people who have implemented a FIRST()
operator. Is there a general way of doing it? Am I on the wrong path?


--
aegis

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