Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!think.com!mintaka!spdcc!ima!iecc!compilers-sender From: Bruce.Hoult@actrix.co.nz (Bruce Hoult) Newsgroups: comp.compilers Subject: Re: Recursive Descent Parsers and YACC Keywords: parse, yacc, design, question Message-ID: <1990Nov18.051129.21458@actrix.co.nz> Date: 18 Nov 90 05:11:29 GMT References: Sender: compilers-sender@iecc.cambridge.ma.us Reply-To: Bruce.Hoult@actrix.co.nz (Bruce Hoult) Organization: Actrix Information Exchange, Wellington, New Zealand Lines: 17 Approved: compilers@iecc.cambridge.ma.us Comment-To: melling@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu In article melling@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes: > Can someone give me an estimate on how much faster parsing can be made by > writing a recursive-descent parser instead of using Yacc and Lex? Is there > enough of a difference to consider using a RDP in a commercial C compiler? Bjarne Stroustrup is on record as saying that he regrets having used yacc to generate the parser in CFront (AT&T's C++ compiler), not because of any difference in parsing speed, but because of the extreme difficulty of providing meaningful syntax errors with yacc, compared to using RD. Walter Bright used RD in Zortech C++, and it's no slouch in compile speed. -- Bruce Hoult Bruce.Hoult@actrix.gen.nz -- Send compilers articles to compilers@iecc.cambridge.ma.us or {ima | spdcc | world}!iecc!compilers. Meta-mail to compilers-request.