[cfe-dev] Clarification for term "AST"

[John McCall]

On Feb 22, 2013, at 12:09 PM, Markus Elfring <Markus.Elfring at web.de> wrote:
>> The problem as I see it is that building a "pure" AST of C++ (and C) is just impossible
> 
> I have got a different opinion. - Corresponding solutions will need more efforts
> for further separation of concerns, won't they?
> 
> 
>> because to know whether you have a variable declaration or a functional call
>> you require basic semantic analysis already.
> 
> I guess that you refer to ambiguities in the programming language(s) like they
> were also described by software researchers "Edward D. Willink" and "Adrian D.
> Thurston".
> 
> 
>> This is a defect of the specification of the grammar itself, and it will not be solved now
>> (it would require completely reworking the grammar which is obviously impractical given
>> the number of programs written).
> 
> I assume that there happened some discussions on this already.
> 
> 
>> Therefore, you'll always have "kind-of" a semantic tree,
> 
> I would like to suggest a different approach.
> 
> 
>> without a dedicated Abstract Syntax Tree level.
> 
> I guess that it is another software design challenge to ensure clear interfaces
> between the involved abstraction levels.

To be blunt, invasive refactors based on a non-contributor's sense of
abstractly good software-engineering practices are not welcome.
Understand the problems that our data structures are designed to solve
before trying to tell us the right way to do things.

John.