On Fri, 2013-03-15 at 12:57 +0000, Malcolm Wallace wrote:
On 14 Mar 2013, at 14:53, Duncan Coutts wrote:
Why did I choose parsec? Practicality dictates that I can only use things in the core libraries, and the nearest thing we have to that is the parser lib that is in the HP.
I fully agree that a real parser is needed for Cabal files. I implemented one myself, many years ago, using the polyparse library, and using a hand-written lexer. Feel free to reuse it (attached, together with a sample program) if you like, although I expect it has bit-rotted a little over time.
Thanks Malcolm. I should point out that I would also be perfectly happy to use polyparse. The practical constraint is that Cabal can only depend on other Core libs. My assumption was that moving parsec from HP to core was easier than adding polyparse into core. But if someone wanted to suggest ripping ReadP out of base and replacing it with polyparse, I would certainly not complain. Duncan