| [b7d9d404] | 1 | <sect2><title> </title><para> </para></sect2>
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| [8fcc2c0] | 2 |
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| [b7d9d404] | 3 | <sect2><title>Descriptions</title>
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| [6370fa6] | 4 |
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| [087e584] | 5 | <para>(Last checked against version &bison-contversion;.)</para>
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| [bdc08c1] | 6 |
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| [b7d9d404] | 7 | <sect3><title>Program file descriptions</title>
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| [6370fa6] | 8 |
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| [bdc08c1] | 9 | <sect4><title>bison</title>
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| [cf24ff1] | 10 | <para>bison is a parser generator, a replacement for yacc. yacc stands for Yet
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| 11 | Another Compiler Compiler. What is bison then? It is a program that
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| [bdc08c1] | 12 | generates a program that analyzes the structure of a text file. Instead of
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| [3cc70a0] | 13 | writing the actual program a user specifies how things should be connected
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| [bdc08c1] | 14 | and with those rules a program is constructed that analyzes the
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| [2c094d6] | 15 | text file. There are a lot of examples where structure is needed and
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| [bdc08c1] | 16 | one of them is the calculator.</para>
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| [6370fa6] | 17 |
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| [b822811] | 18 | <para>Given the string :</para>
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| [6370fa6] | 19 |
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| [b822811] | 20 | <blockquote><literallayout> 1 + 2 * 3</literallayout></blockquote>
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| [6370fa6] | 21 |
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| [b822811] | 22 | <para>A human can easily come to the result 7. Why? Because of the structure.
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| [9aab9f5] | 23 | Our brain knows
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| [cf24ff1] | 24 | how to interpret the string. The computer doesn't know that and bison is a
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| [6370fa6] | 25 | tool to help it understand by presenting the string in the following way
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| [b822811] | 26 | to the compiler:</para>
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| [6370fa6] | 27 |
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| [b822811] | 28 | <blockquote><literallayout> +
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| [6370fa6] | 29 | / \
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| 30 | * 1
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| 31 | / \
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| [b822811] | 32 | 2 3</literallayout></blockquote>
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| [6370fa6] | 33 |
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| [b822811] | 34 | <para>Starting at the bottom of a tree and coming across the numbers 2 and
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| [3cc70a0] | 35 | 3 which are joined by the multiplication symbol, the computer
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| [6370fa6] | 36 | multiplies 2 and 3. The result of that multiplication is remembered and
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| 37 | the next thing that the computer sees is the result of 2*3 and the
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| 38 | number 1 which are joined by the add symbol. Adding 1 to the previous
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| [2c094d6] | 39 | result makes 7. In calculating, the most complex calculations can be
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| [6370fa6] | 40 | broken down in this tree format and the computer just starts at the
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| [51c0c603] | 41 | bottom and works its way up to the top and comes with the correct
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| [cf24ff1] | 42 | answer. Of course, bison isn't only used for calculators
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| [bdc08c1] | 43 | alone.</para></sect4>
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| 44 |
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| 45 | <sect4><title>yacc</title>
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| [7359e67] | 46 | <para>This bash script calls bison using the -y option. This is for
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| 47 | compatibility purposes for programs which use yacc instead of
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| 48 | bison.</para></sect4>
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| [bdc08c1] | 49 |
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| 50 | </sect3>
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| [6370fa6] | 51 |
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| 52 | </sect2>
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| 53 |
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