Re: OT: Programming Languages

On 11/2/2024 10:10 AM, Jeroen Belleman wrote:

Sorry, that should be YACC, not YASP.

YACC is wonderful at eliminating the tedium from so many
annoying tasks associated with language design.  But,
relies on folks being able to map their problems onto
grammars.
I built the interface to SWMBOs media player in YACC.
It's much more obvious how the "controls" interact
with the "program" than trying to embed all those
conditionals in a bunch of spaghetti code:
     "Well, if the radio is playing and she presses
     '1', how does that differ than if a 'CD' is
     playing and she has pressed it?  What if the
     radio is playing and she presses REC?  What if
     a CD?  Where is the code that handles that case..."

Jeroen Belleman (who has seen too many software tools starting
with 'YA'.)

That -- even if omitted in the name (e.g., ANTLR).
OTOH, looking at their capabilities often sheds light on
the sorts of "problems" other products have had.