8 Debugging Your Parser

Developing a parser can be a challenge, especially if you don’t understand the algorithm (see The Bison Parser Algorithm). This chapter explains how understand and debug a parser.

The first sections focus on the static part of the parser: its structure. They explain how to generate and read the detailed description of the automaton. There are several formats available:

• - as text, see Understanding Your Parser;
• - as a graph, see Visualizing Your Parser;
• - or as a markup report that can be turned, for instance, into HTML, see Visualizing your parser in multiple formats.

The last section focuses on the dynamic part of the parser: how to enable and understand the parser run-time traces (see Tracing Your Parser).