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Programming > Ada > Lack of formal ...
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Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada

by usenet@[EMAIL PROTECTED] Apr 11, 2008 at 02:41 AM

Ada does not have a formal syntax. The LRM provides "syntax rules"
section by section, then collectively in Annex P. The resulting
woolly grammar is well-known to be ambiguous (e.g. is X:=Y(Z) an
assignment from a function call, array indexing or something
else?). It mixes lexical and syntactical information. It cannot
be used as the input to a parser generator. The interpretation
necessary via other sections of the LRM risks making the language
as a whole indefinite.

Ada is designed for the construction of high-integrity software
by validated compilers. Would it not be better to have formal
Ada lexical and syntactic rules, expressed in regular expression
and BNF format respectively, even if such rules turn out to be
not particularly readable?

As an example, my parser is having trouble with the fragment:
task type TT is
   pragma priority(12);
end TT;
Is this legal Ada95 syntax or not?

Regards,
Chris Noonan
 




 38 Posts in Topic:
Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
usenet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]   2008-04-11 02:41:28 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
"Peter C. Chapin&quo  2008-04-11 07:20:15 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Georg Bauhaus <rm.tsoh  2008-04-11 19:27:17 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Adam Beneschan <adam@[  2008-04-11 11:13:16 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
John McCabe <john@[EMA  2008-04-11 22:25:50 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Robert A Duff <bobduff  2008-04-11 17:45:07 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
John McCabe <john@[EMA  2008-04-11 23:37:53 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Robert A Duff <bobduff  2008-04-12 08:57:02 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
"(see below)" &  2008-04-12 16:06:45 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
John McCabe <john@[EMA  2008-04-12 17:25:53 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
"(see below)" &  2008-04-12 18:55:14 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
John McCabe <john@[EMA  2008-04-12 23:19:38 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
"(see below)" &  2008-04-13 02:13:07 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
John McCabe <john@[EMA  2008-04-13 12:51:01 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
"(see below)" &  2008-04-13 15:13:45 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
John McCabe <john@[EMA  2008-04-13 20:34:09 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
"(see below)" &  2008-04-13 21:51:59 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
John McCabe <john@[EMA  2008-04-13 22:06:51 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Gary Scott <garylscott  2008-04-12 17:16:55 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
"Peter C. Chapin&quo  2008-04-12 14:43:33 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Gary Scott <garylscott  2008-04-12 14:16:55 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Robert A Duff <bobduff  2008-04-12 16:04:45 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Gary Scott <garylscott  2008-04-12 23:32:45 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Robert A Duff <bobduff  2008-04-12 21:16:25 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Robert A Duff <bobduff  2008-04-12 16:02:30 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Pascal Obry <pascal@[E  2008-04-12 22:52:13 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Adam Beneschan <adam@[  2008-04-11 16:08:12 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
dirk@[EMAIL PROTECTED] (  2008-04-12 07:16:43 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Jean-Pierre Rosen <ros  2008-04-14 09:23:10 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
anon@[EMAIL PROTECTED] (  2008-04-13 09:46:01 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Florian Weimer <fw@[EM  2008-04-14 00:01:34 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Florian Weimer <fw@[EM  2008-04-14 00:04:01 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
usenet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]   2008-04-15 05:57:42 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
"Peter C. Chapin&quo  2008-04-15 22:26:23 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
"Randy Brukardt"  2008-04-17 01:37:08 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
usenet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]   2008-04-15 06:22:11 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Adam Beneschan <adam@[  2008-04-15 09:08:08 
Re: Lack of formal syntax undermines Ada
Eric Hughes <eric.eh9@  2008-04-15 20:14:45 

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