Re: My plans for Bison: history

[Eric S. Raymond]

Akim Demaille <address@hidden>:
> Could you please submit it as a patch proposal (with git show to
> get the commit header).

I'm not sure what you want here.  A roll-up of the whole patch series?
And if you wwant the patch header, maybe I should just send you
git format-patch output?

> - "Robert Corbett actually wrote two LALR parsers in 1985"
>   I think this is an overstatement (over-statement?  ;-).
>   I have wandered in the sources of Bison for a long time now, but
>   when I look at byacc, I feel at home: I clearly recognize the sources.
>   I think the differences between the initial versions of byacc and
>   bison must have been very narrow...

I don't doubt you. But the record is clear that they were released
separately.  I've  changed the above 'graph to read" "wrote two (closely
related) LALR parsers".

>   You list some of them after, but there are more than this.
>   For instance, %define opens a host of configuration options.

Someone who knows those features better than I will have to add them.

I folded in all your other suggestions.

> FTR, I have been lucky enough to have met Mike Lesk --- I was an
> intern a few meter away from his office.  And also Stu Feldman.
> Aho was the boss then, but I never met him :(

I had friendly contact with a number of the originators while working
on "The Art Of Unix Programming"; I think Lesk was one of them and I'm sure
Steve Johnson was.  An impressive crew.
-- 
                <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/";>Eric S. Raymond</a>

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