"Writing a really general parser is a major but different undertaking, by far the hardest points being sensitivity to context and resolution of ambiguity"
- Graham Nelson
About this Quote
This quote by Graham Nelson talks to the difficulty of writing a general parser. A parser is a program that takes a string of text and breaks it down into its component parts, such as words, expressions, and sentences. Composing a basic parser is a significant endeavor since it needs the program to be sensitive to context and to be able to fix ambiguity. This means that the parser should be able to comprehend the significance of the text and have the ability to compare various interpretations of the exact same text. This is an uphill struggle due to the fact that language is frequently ambiguous and context-dependent. Composing a basic parser requires a deep understanding of language and the capability to accurately translate the text. It is a hard but needed task for any program that requires to comprehend natural language.
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