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Re: [lojban] the formal grammars' utility



At 04:40 PM 07/14/2001 +0100, And Rosta wrote:
1. What use is the EBNF grammar, given that it can't be used instead of
YACC?

Some people find it easier to understand than the YACC grammar because the rules are compressed into a more language-grammar-like form.

2. Is there a downloadable version of YACC ordered alphabetically (or
in any way such that one knows whereabouts in the rule list to find the
expansion for a given node)?

The YACC grammar in the Book has an index that provides this.

3. Has anybody created a more succinct but unabbreviated (and, ideally,
more intuitive) version of the YACC grammar?

You just said why people use the EBNF. If the YACC grammar could be more succinct, we would. The EBNF covers the whole language, so it is more succinct and unabbreviated. Its weakness is that it is not proven equivalent to the YACC, so mistakes in obscure places could still surface.

lojbab
--
lojbab                                             lojbab@lojban.org
Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc.
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Artificial language Loglan/Lojban:                 http://www.lojban.org