[MUD-Dev] Essays on parsing text.

[Travis S. Casey]

On Sun, 25 Jul 1999, Ling wrote:

> I stumbled on the following:
> 
> 	<URL:http://www.srv.net/~ram/essays.html>

These are essays on the construction of artificial languages, some of
which provide thoughts on how to make sure that an AL is
computer-tractable.  The only one that appears to be of immediate interest
to someone who just wants to make a parser, and doesn't want to design
their own language, is the one on syntax.  However, all it shows is an
example of using BNF to describe a small subset of English.

There's some interesting material on ambiguity and similar topics in the
various essays, but it's buried amid all the other things that are related
to producing a new language.

I wouldn't recommend this as a starting point for anyone trying to figure
out how to make a parser -- indeed, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone who
*just* wants to do parsing.

> Complete with a working example of the system in a game at:
> 
> 	<URL:http://www.srv.net/~ram/soe.html>

The FAQ here has some things clarifying the game's command language that
might be useful, in the sense of showing some of the things that might
confuse players.  

The rules describe the command language used, which could also be of
interest as an example.

I don't see anything which indicates that the material in the essays was
used in creating this command language, beyond the fact that they were
both written by the same person.

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