[Newcompiler] points for math

[Andrew Tween]

Hi,
> > Mathieu told us that yesterday.
>
> Eu ! I don't think it's me who say this :) , it may be Damien

:)
This is my fault. I promised Mathieu that I would post our conversation (re:
Shout/SmaCC parser) to the list, but I forgot to do it :(
Anyway, I'll do it now...
Cheers,
Andy

Andrew Tween a écrit :
> Hi Math,
>> So I will take care of merging your add in the NewCompiler.
>> You have already add some method but you also want to add some grammar rules.
>
> I have been doing some more work on this. Specifically, I have been trying to
> get the parsing of incomplete/invalid methods to work the same as the current
> Shout parser. This is proving difficult, and I suspect that I may have to make
> major changes to the parser/scanner in order to achieve this. Of course, I
won't
> know for sure until I've finished, but that is my "gut instinct".
>
> The three possible outcomes of this are :-
>     1. Shout remains as it is and doesn't use the new parser.
>     2. The new parser is modified, and Shout uses it.
>     3. The new parser is not modified, but Shout uses its own modified copy of
> it.
>
> I think that the best course of action is to aim for 3.
> If this is successful, then a decision can be made as to whether 2 is
> possible/desirable.
> If this is unsuccessful then we stay at 1.
>
> At the moment, I think that the probabilities of each of the above are :-
>     1. 60%
>     2. 10%
>     3. 30%
>
> So, for now, I think it is best to not merge any of my changes. It will be
much
> easier to make a decision when/if I get it all to work correctly. (And that
> decision should be based not just on the increased complexity of the grammar
> etc., but also on any performance degradation, which will be impossible to
> determine until all the changes are in place).

ok I see. SmaCC may not be able to build extensible parser but Marcus told me
that there were
research on it. This could be very useful.

>
>> Can you tell me exactlly what we have to add?
>>
>> And may be we can also add you linked list of token. It can help use to
> decorat your tree of
>> comments and so on.
>
> Maybe the token list is a good idea, even if Shout doesn't use the new parser.
> It depends on whether there are any other things that could use it.
>
>> After I will mail the mailing list and discuse what it's good for the
> NewCompiler.
>
> I'll forward this conversation to the mailing list, if you are happy for me to
> do so?

ok :)

>
> Sorry if this all sounds a little pessimistic. I think that it is a very
useful,
>  and enlightening, excercise, even if the outcome is still uncertain.
>

Yes thanks :)

> Cheers,
> Andy
>