[Haskell-beginners] Applicative Parsec

[Matthias Guedemann]

Hi Brent,

thanks for the illustrative example.  

> For example, consider parsing a file which contains a positive
> integer, followed by that many letters.  For example,
> 
>   3xyz
>   12abcdefghijkl
> 
> are two instances of this format.  In order to parse this, a monadic
> interface is required, since the result of parsing the number must be
> used to decide how many things to parse after that.

I see, but as long as I want to parse context free grammars, it is
sufficient?

> However, for *many* purposes, an Applicative parsing interface is all
> you need.  And if Applicative is enough, it's usually nicer/more
> elegant than Monad. (And using the least powerful/most general thing
> that works for your purpose is usually good style anyway.)

I agree, and EBNF practically translates itself (modulo some try lookaheads)

best regards,
Matthias
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Dipl. Inf. Matthias Guedemann              / __\/ _\  /__\
Computer Systems in Engineering           / /   \ \  /_\
Otto-von-Guericke Universitaet Magdeburg / /___ _\ \//__
Tel.: 0391 / 67-19359                    \____/ \__/\__/
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