Choosing a parser library for a language

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I want to create a really simple language that compiles to SPIRV. Today I had a look at various parser libraries.

The first libraries that came to mind were GitHub - Geal/nom: Rust parser combinator framework and https://github.com/Marwes/combine. I have to say combine looks really clean.

But then I found out that the author of combine also works on a language https://github.com/gluon-lang/gluon. Interestingly he chose https://github.com/nikomatsakis/lalrpop over his own parsing library. There is also https://github.com/PistonDevelopers/meta and https://github.com/kevinmehall/rust-peg for parsor generators.

I have to say I don't fully see the advantage of parser generators at all, they seem too magical. Is there something inherently wrong with parser combinator libraries for parsing a language? I could potentially see that it might be easier to make large scale changes to a parser generator.

Which library would you choose and why?

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Not an answer to your question, but you might find the following paper interesting http://spw17.langsec.org/papers/chifflier-parsing-in-2017.pdf. It uses nom but talks a bit about parser generators vs parser combinators in principle.

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Thanks, I probably will also use nom.

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@MaikKlein I recently worked on a parser for a scene description (for my renderer) and tested pest. So far so good ...

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This is why I like them, I write my grammar and I get AST, no coding involved. One of benefits is that library may improve with time in terms of speed or error messages, and I won't have to do anything to get that, so +1 for lalrpop from me.
I am using it and had no problems with it, though I'd love to see ANTLR supporting Rust.

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I'm currently using nom in a project that involves parsing programming language source code:

https://github.com/willi-kappler/comment_units

I'm quite happy with nom for now, the documentation could be better (and I'll try to also work on it). If you want to help improve it join the discussion here:

https://github.com/Geal/nom/issues/522

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Since I was just asking myself the same question, I looked around for articles on the topic. I can recommend this article on the differences between parser combinators and parser generators. It helped me a lot to make an informed decision.