[Axiom-developer] SPAD grammar and parsing

[C Y]

Poking around in the interp code, a couple of questions arise.

The first one is whether there is a grammar for the SPAD language.  If
memory serves, the answer to this is no there is not, but there is a
grammar for Aldor.

There has been some discussion in the past about programs like cl-yacc
that can generate a parser for a language based on its grammar.  I
don't know if a program like that could handle SPAD/Aldor->Lisp, but if
it could using it would solve two problems:

1)  It would force us to develop an actual grammar for the language
Axiom is using.

2)  It would help avoid the need to tangle with the maze of boot/spad
definitions we currently are using for this process by generating the
code we need in (hopefully) a cleaner, more modern style.

If such a generator really works, it has the additional benefit of
making it much simpler to put new ideas about language behavior into
practice.  Unfortunately parsers and language grammars seem to be
something of a non-trivial topic.  Is there anyone here for whom that
would be an interesting direction to work?

Cheers,
CY

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