A parser that can handle partial programs (was Re: Now, to try again...)

Bradley M . Kuhn <[email protected]> writes:
>Nicholas Clark <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Something I though of:
>> If you're trying to write an interactive perl inputer - either a perl shell
>> or just the command prompt on the debugger it would be useful if you
>> could tell the parser that the chunk of source you're giving it may be
>> incomplete.
>
>I really like this idea, although I am unsure of how we might implement it.
>I don't recall any of the compiler texts I have read over the years talking
>about formal methods for writing such a "partial programs are acceptable"
>parser.
>
>
>Lisp-like languages handle this, but s-expressions are so trivial to parse
>that it's no help to simply "follow" their example.

So does Tcl - but it is also trivial to "parse" - all its complexity 
is in the semantics of interpolation. 

-- 
Nick Ing-Simmons <[email protected]>
Via, but not speaking for: Texas Instruments Ltd.