Seeking a faster way to parse context-free grammars? This paper describes a parsing algorithm that aims to be the most efficient general context-free parsing algorithm known. It shares similarities with Knuth's LR(k) algorithm and the familiar top-down approach. It explores the algorithm’s time bounds, showing linear time on a large class of grammars, which seems to include most practical context-free programming language grammars. In an empirical comparison, the algorithm appears to outperform the top-down and bottom-up algorithms studied by Griffiths and Petrick. The evaluation details the algorithm's performance across various grammar types, highlighting its efficiency and practicality. The results suggest that the described parsing algorithm is superior to existing methods, offering a more efficient solution for parsing context-free grammars. This research benefits computer scientists and programming language developers seeking to optimize parsing performance.
This article on context-free parsing algorithms is highly relevant to Communications of the ACM, which publishes research on computer science and related areas. The paper addresses a core problem in computer science – efficient parsing – and its findings are likely to be of interest to the journal's readership, which includes researchers and practitioners in the field.