Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!eecae!tank!mimsy!chris
From: chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: Language Design, or: is C's Grammar Context Free
Keywords: BNF, Grammars, Silliness
Message-ID: <16559@mimsy.UUCP>
Date: 27 Mar 89 17:09:54 GMT
References: <5200040@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <12443@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <16557@mimsy.UUCP>
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
Lines: 12

Incidentally, now that I have said all that (some might say `too much'
:-) ), the only real difference between a C grammar that accepts
undeclared typedef names and a Pascal grammar that accepts undeclared
variable names is that, for some reason, people like to think of type
declarators as keywords and variables as identifiers.  At least, this
is the only explanation I can see that we never argue whether Pascal's
grammar is context free.  (If you require the parser to catch undeclared
variables, it is not, just as C's is not if you require the parser to
catch undeclared typedef names.)
-- 
In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163)
Domain:	chris@mimsy.umd.edu	Path:	uunet!mimsy!chris