Lexer and parser generators using CTFE

[Jonathan M Davis]

On Wednesday, February 29, 2012 02:16:12 Christopher Bergqvist wrote:
> I agree that the current direction of D in this area is
> impressive. However, I fail to see a killer-feature in
> generating a lexer-parser generator at compile-time instead of
> run-time.
> 
> A run-time generator would benefit from not having to execute
> within the limited CTFE environment and would always be on-par in
> that respect. A compile time generator would internalize the
> generation and compilation of the result (with possible
> glue-code), simplifying the build process somewhat.
> 
> What am I failing to pick up on?

Well, one cool thing would be that a compiler could effectively compile itself 
- or at least the lexer and parser would compile themselves. You wouldn't have 
to run a program to generate them. It could be self-contained.

- Jonathan M Davis