X-Git-Url: https://git.saurik.com/bison.git/blobdiff_plain/04a76783abc8d92caa37bfd173a227ffa304ce90..deef2a0a4d97b580fe45a02da328b94ce32538b1:/TODO?ds=sidebyside diff --git a/TODO b/TODO index 7bbf4375..ae0ddb66 100644 --- a/TODO +++ b/TODO @@ -1,46 +1,288 @@ -*- outline -*- -* src/reader.c -Complete parse_skel_decl () with parse_dquoted_param (). [ok] -Check and cleanup for CPP-out code. [] - -* src/output.c -Remove %%verbose which is useless. [ok] - -* Broken options. -** %no-lines [] -** %no-parser [] -** %pure-parser ? [] -** %semantic-parser [] -** %token-table [] -** Options which could use parse_dquoted_param (). -Maybe transfered in lex.c. -*** %skeleton [ok] -*** %output [] -*** %file-prefix [] -*** %name-prefix [] - -Cleanup dirty CPP-out code. [] -** Output sub-skeleton files. [] -Useful for %no_parser. [] -*** New skeleton. [] - -* src/macrotab.[ch] -Removing warnings when compiling. (gcc-warnings). [ok] - -* src/print_graph.c -Find the best graph parameters. [] - -* doc/bison.texinfo -Update informations about ERROR_VERBOSE. [] -Add explainations about skeleton muscles. [] -Add explainations about %skeleton. [] - -* testsuite. -** tests/reduce.at [] -** tests/calc.at -Remove --yyerror-verbose. [ok] -** tests/torture.at -Remove --yyerror-verbose. [ok] -** tests/calc.at -Test --error-verbose. [ok] +* Header guards + +From Franc,ois: should we keep the directory part in the CPP guard? + + +* Yacc.c: CPP Macros + +Do some people use YYPURE, YYLSP_NEEDED like we do in the test suite? +They should not: it is not documented. But if they need to, let's +find something clean (not like YYLSP_NEEDED...). + + +* Installation + +* Documentation +Before releasing, make sure the documentation ("Understanding your +parser") refers to the current `output' format. + +* lalr1.cc +** I18n +Catch up with yacc.c. + +* Report + +** GLR +How would Paul like to display the conflicted actions? In particular, +what when two reductions are possible on a given lookahead token, but one is +part of $default. Should we make the two reductions explicit, or just +keep $default? See the following point. + +** Disabled Reductions +See `tests/conflicts.at (Defaulted Conflicted Reduction)', and decide +what we want to do. + +** Documentation +Extend with error productions. The hard part will probably be finding +the right rule so that a single state does not exhibit too many yet +undocumented ``features''. Maybe an empty action ought to be +presented too. Shall we try to make a single grammar with all these +features, or should we have several very small grammars? + +** --report=conflict-path +Provide better assistance for understanding the conflicts by providing +a sample text exhibiting the (LALR) ambiguity. See the paper from +DeRemer and Penello: they already provide the algorithm. + +** Statically check for potential ambiguities in GLR grammars. See +<http://www.i3s.unice.fr/~schmitz/papers.html#expamb> for an approach. + + +* Extensions + +** Labeling the symbols +Have a look at the Lemon parser generator: instead of $1, $2 etc. they +can name the values. This is much more pleasant. For instance: + + exp (res): exp (a) '+' exp (b) { $res = $a + $b; }; + +I love this. I have been bitten too often by the removal of the +symbol, and forgetting to shift all the $n to $n-1. If you are +unlucky, it compiles... + +But instead of using $a etc., we can use regular variables. And +instead of using (), I propose to use `:' (again). Paul suggests +supporting `->' in addition to `:' to separate LHS and RHS. In other +words: + + r:exp -> a:exp '+' b:exp { r = a + b; }; + +That requires an significant improvement of the grammar parser. Using +GLR would be nice. It also requires that Bison know the type of the +symbols (which will be useful for %include anyway). So we have some +time before... + +Note that there remains the problem of locations: `@r'? + + +** $-1 +We should find a means to provide an access to values deep in the +stack. For instance, instead of + + baz: qux { $$ = $<foo>-1 + $<bar>0 + $1; } + +we should be able to have: + + foo($foo) bar($bar) baz($bar): qux($qux) { $baz = $foo + $bar + $qux; } + +Or something like this. + +** %if and the like +It should be possible to have %if/%else/%endif. The implementation is +not clear: should it be lexical or syntactic. Vadim Maslow thinks it +must be in the scanner: we must not parse what is in a switched off +part of %if. Akim Demaille thinks it should be in the parser, so as +to avoid falling into another CPP mistake. + +** -D, --define-muscle NAME=VALUE +To define muscles via cli. Or maybe support directly NAME=VALUE? + +** XML Output +There are couple of available extensions of Bison targeting some XML +output. Some day we should consider including them. One issue is +that they seem to be quite orthogonal to the parsing technique, and +seem to depend mostly on the possibility to have some code triggered +for each reduction. As a matter of fact, such hooks could also be +used to generate the yydebug traces. Some generic scheme probably +exists in there. + +XML output for GNU Bison and gcc + http://www.cs.may.ie/~jpower/Research/bisonXML/ + +XML output for GNU Bison + http://yaxx.sourceforge.net/ + +* Unit rules +Maybe we could expand unit rules, i.e., transform + + exp: arith | bool; + arith: exp '+' exp; + bool: exp '&' exp; + +into + + exp: exp '+' exp | exp '&' exp; + +when there are no actions. This can significantly speed up some +grammars. I can't find the papers. In particular the book `LR +parsing: Theory and Practice' is impossible to find, but according to +`Parsing Techniques: a Practical Guide', it includes information about +this issue. Does anybody have it? + + + +* Documentation + +** History/Bibliography +Some history of Bison and some bibliography would be most welcome. +Are there any Texinfo standards for bibliography? + + + +* Java, Fortran, etc. + + +* Coding system independence +Paul notes: + + Currently Bison assumes 8-bit bytes (i.e. that UCHAR_MAX is + 255). It also assumes that the 8-bit character encoding is + the same for the invocation of 'bison' as it is for the + invocation of 'cc', but this is not necessarily true when + people run bison on an ASCII host and then use cc on an EBCDIC + host. I don't think these topics are worth our time + addressing (unless we find a gung-ho volunteer for EBCDIC or + PDP-10 ports :-) but they should probably be documented + somewhere. + + More importantly, Bison does not currently allow NUL bytes in + tokens, either via escapes (e.g., "x\0y") or via a NUL byte in + the source code. This should get fixed. + +* --graph +Show reductions. + +* Broken options ? +** %token-table +** Skeleton strategy +Must we keep %token-table? + +* BTYacc +See if we can integrate backtracking in Bison. Charles-Henri de +Boysson <de-boy_c@epita.fr> has been working on this, but never gave +the results. + +Vadim Maslow, the maintainer of BTYacc was once contacted. Adjusting +the Bison grammar parser will be needed to support some extra BTYacc +features. This is less urgent. + +** Keeping the conflicted actions +First, analyze the differences between byacc and btyacc (I'm referring +to the executables). Find where the conflicts are preserved. + +** Compare with the GLR tables +See how isomorphic the way BTYacc and the way the GLR adjustments in +Bison are compatible. *As much as possible* one should try to use the +same implementation in the Bison executables. I insist: it should be +very feasible to use the very same conflict tables. + +** Adjust the skeletons +Import the skeletons for C and C++. + + +* Precedence + +** Partial order +It is unfortunate that there is a total order for precedence. It +makes it impossible to have modular precedence information. We should +move to partial orders (sounds like series/parallel orders to me). + +** Correlation b/w precedence and associativity +Also, I fail to understand why we have to assign the same +associativity to operators with the same precedence. For instance, +why can't I decide that the precedence of * and / is the same, but the +latter is nonassoc? + +If there is really no profound motivation, we should find a new syntax +to allow specifying this. + +** RR conflicts +See if we can use precedence between rules to solve RR conflicts. See +what POSIX says. + + +* $undefined +From Hans: +- If the Bison generated parser experiences an undefined number in the +character range, that character is written out in diagnostic messages, an +addition to the $undefined value. + +Suggest: Change the name $undefined to undefined; looks better in outputs. + + +* Default Action +From Hans: +- For use with my C++ parser, I transported the "switch (yyn)" statement +that Bison writes to the bison.simple skeleton file. This way, I can remove +the current default rule $$ = $1 implementation, which causes a double +assignment to $$ which may not be OK under C++, replacing it with a +"default:" part within the switch statement. + +Note that the default rule $$ = $1, when typed, is perfectly OK under C, +but in the C++ implementation I made, this rule is different from +$<type_name>$ = $<type_name>1. I therefore think that one should implement +a Bison option where every typed default rule is explicitly written out +(same typed ruled can of course be grouped together). + +* Pre and post actions. +From: Florian Krohm <florian@edamail.fishkill.ibm.com> +Subject: YYACT_EPILOGUE +To: bug-bison@gnu.org +X-Sent: 1 week, 4 days, 14 hours, 38 minutes, 11 seconds ago + +The other day I had the need for explicitly building the parse tree. I +used %locations for that and defined YYLLOC_DEFAULT to call a function +that returns the tree node for the production. Easy. But I also needed +to assign the S-attribute to the tree node. That cannot be done in +YYLLOC_DEFAULT, because it is invoked before the action is executed. +The way I solved this was to define a macro YYACT_EPILOGUE that would +be invoked after the action. For reasons of symmetry I also added +YYACT_PROLOGUE. Although I had no use for that I can envision how it +might come in handy for debugging purposes. +All is needed is to add + +#if YYLSP_NEEDED + YYACT_EPILOGUE (yyval, (yyvsp - yylen), yylen, yyloc, (yylsp - yylen)); +#else + YYACT_EPILOGUE (yyval, (yyvsp - yylen), yylen); +#endif + +at the proper place to bison.simple. Ditto for YYACT_PROLOGUE. + +I was wondering what you think about adding YYACT_PROLOGUE/EPILOGUE +to bison. If you're interested, I'll work on a patch. + +* Better graphics +Equip the parser with a means to create the (visual) parse tree. + +----- + +Copyright (C) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008 Free Software Foundation, +Inc. + +This file is part of Bison, the GNU Compiler Compiler. + +This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify +it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by +the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or +(at your option) any later version. + +This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, +but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of +MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the +GNU General Public License for more details. + +You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License +along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.