Benjamin Niemann

The joys of parser generation

For some strange reasons building parsers from BNF definitions is incredible fun for me - only seconded by designing and constructing my own languages ;)

So once again I was looking for parser generation tools that create Python code. And this time I found ANTLR on the list.

I have been using ANTLR since the days it was called PCCTS. I used it to create parsers in C, then in C++ and - the last time I downloaded it - in C#. It is the tool I am most familar with and my natural first choice when I am in need for a parser generator.

Seeing that it now supports my favourite programming language Python has some nice implications:

• I can quickly get to the real work - no need to learn another tool.
• Should there be ever a need for a faster implementation (and all other optimizations are exploited), it should be fairly easy to convert the parser into a C++ version that could be turned into a Python module.

Let the fun begin...