Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!motcsd!hpda!hpcuhb!hpcllla!hpclisp!hpclscu!shankar
From: shankar@hpclscu.HP.COM (Shankar Unni)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: K&R II YACC grammar (was: Yacc probs w/ANSI-C)
Message-ID: <660041@hpclscu.HP.COM>
Date: 5 Jul 89 20:45:09 GMT
References: <12380@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Calif. Language Lab
Lines: 18

> Is anyone else worried about the ethical question here?  Section
> A13 really seems to encourage you to type it in, feed it to YACC,
> and use it in your compiler ("This grammar can be transformed
> mechanically into input acceptable to an automatic parser-
> generator.") yet the copyright page contains the usual "No part
> of this publication may be... stored in a retrieval system... in
> any form or by any means..." etc.  (No criticism of Robert; I'm
> sure many others have done the same.)  Any comments?

No, I don't see this as an ethical problem.  This is where we draw the
distinction between "an idea" and "the expression of an idea". In my
opinion, a YACC grammar leans more towards an idea, rather than an
expression thereof (after all, a grammar is not just a matter of opinion).

If you feel uncomfortable with this, I'm sure you can type it in and then
inside vi, do ":%s/\<\([a-zA-Z]\)/my_&/g".
-----
Shankar.