Path: csiph.com!weretis.net!feeder6.news.weretis.net!news.misty.com!news.iecc.com!.POSTED.news.iecc.com!nerds-end From: Hans-Peter Diettrich Newsgroups: comp.compilers Subject: Re: syntax complexity Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2023 12:03:02 +0100 Organization: Compilers Central Sender: johnl@iecc.com Approved: comp.compilers@iecc.com Message-ID: <23-02-047@comp.compilers> References: <23-02-045@comp.compilers> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Info: gal.iecc.com; posting-host="news.iecc.com:2001:470:1f07:1126:0:676f:7373:6970"; logging-data="49770"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@iecc.com" Keywords: syntax Posted-Date: 16 Feb 2023 12:57:49 EST X-submission-address: compilers@iecc.com X-moderator-address: compilers-request@iecc.com X-FAQ-and-archives: http://compilers.iecc.com In-Reply-To: <23-02-045@comp.compilers> Xref: csiph.com comp.compilers:3387 On 2/16/23 12:08 AM, gah4 wrote: > I started this in another thread, but I think it deserves its own. > > The question is, how does one measure syntax complexity, In the original thread I was missing more specific distinctions: - tools: flex/bison, ANTLR, CoCo/R... - parser types: LL, LR, LF, LALR... - or(?): recursive-descent, shift-reduce... - grammar syntax: BNF, EBNF... - grammar types: context-free, -sensitive... > with the > specific case of Fortran vs. PL/I. (And ignoring syntax vs. semantics, > for now.) [...] On that aspect I can not contribute anything, sorry :-( > One complication I see, is that syntax complexity as seen by people, > might be different from it as seen by programs. How do programs recognize syntax complexity? Number of rules and exceptions? DoDi