The Essence of LR Parsing

Partial evaluation can turn a general parser into a parser generator. The generated parsers surpass those produced by traditional parser generators in speed and compactness. We use an inherently functional approach to implement general LR(k) parsers and specialize them using the partial evaluator Similix. The functional implementation of LR parsing allows for concise implementation of the algorithms themselves and requires only straightforward changes to achieve good specialization results. In contrast, a traditional, stackbased implementation of a general LR parser requires significant structural changes to make it amenable to satisfactory specialization.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1995
• Where: PEPM
• Authors: Michael Sperber, Peter Thiemann
• Keywords: Parser, Parser Generators, PEPM 1995, Software Engineering, Traditional Parser Generators