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A predictive parser is a recursive descent parser that does not require backtracking. [3] Predictive parsing is possible only for the class of LL( k ) grammars, which are the context-free grammars for which there exists some positive integer k that allows a recursive descent parser to decide which production to use by examining only the next k ...
(For example, upon encountering a variable declaration, user-written code could save the name and type of the variable into an external data structure, so that these could be checked against later variable references detected by the parser.)
Since Packrat is a recursive descent parser, it cannot handle left recursion directly. [5] During the early stages of development, it was found that a production that is left-recursive can be transformed into a right-recursive production. [6] This modification significantly simplifies the task of a Packrat parser.
With many levels of precedence, implementing this grammar with a predictive recursive-descent parser can become inefficient. Parsing a number, for example, can require five function calls: one for each non-terminal in the grammar until reaching primary. An operator-precedence parser can do the same more efficiently. [1]
A TDPL grammar can be viewed as an extremely minimalistic formal representation of a recursive descent parser, in which each of the nonterminals schematically represents a parsing function. Each of these nonterminal-functions takes as its input argument a string to be recognized, and yields one of two possible outcomes:
A formal grammar that contains left recursion cannot be parsed by a naive recursive descent parser unless they are converted to a weakly equivalent right-recursive form. . However, recent research demonstrates that it is possible to accommodate left-recursive grammars (along with all other forms of general CFGs) in a more sophisticated top-down parser by use of curta
In computer science, tail recursive parsers are a derivation from the more common recursive descent parsers. Tail recursive parsers are commonly used to parse left recursive grammars. They use a smaller amount of stack space than regular recursive descent parsers. They are also easy to write. Typical recursive descent parsers make parsing left ...
LL grammars can alternatively be characterized as precisely those that can be parsed by a predictive parser – a recursive descent parser without backtracking – and these can be readily written by hand. This article is about the formal properties of LL grammars; for parsing, see LL parser or recursive descent parser.