Sparser

SparserThe Universal Parser

License: Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (cc0-1.0)

Version: 1.4.12

The So What

Sparser is a language parser created to provide a simple data format that may accurately describe any language. This universal nature is achieved through three realizations:

  1. Languages are composed of structures.

    A structure is a logical grouping that is typically defined by a language through syntax and sometimes by context. A simple scheme that identifies the atomic particles of a language by structure is sufficient to describe the language. That simple scheme is what allows Sparser to describe different languages equally and universally.

  2. Descriptions of language structures are universally extensible.

    Language structures are not flat. One structure may include other child structures. Those child structures may be of a different grammar, syntax, or language from the parent structure. A universal description of language structure allows complex documents, which are documents composed of more than one language, to be described as a single uniform piece of data.

  3. Structure provides context.

    Understanding any arrangment of complex information takes into account context. Context is the meaning of a thing in relation to other things of close proximity. Sometimes the pieces of a language are partially or wholly defined by their context. A uniform and universal description of structure provides implicit definitions of a language fragment that becomes explicit when extended with additional descriptive data.

Example

Provided is a simple example of trivial code and the resultant parser output formatted as an HTML table. Try out your code samples on the demo page.

JSX Code Sample

{/* child comment, put {} around */} );]]>

Parsed Output

index begin ender lexer lines stack types token
0 -1 -1 script 0 global word var
1 -1 -1 script 1 global reference content
2 -1 -1 script 1 global operator =
3 -1 23 script 1 global start (
4 3 22 markup 2 paren start <Nav>
5 4 7 markup 2 Nav script_start {
6 5 7 script 0 script comment /* child comment, put {} around */
7 5 7 markup 0 script script_end }
8 4 22 markup 2 Nav singleton <cPerson/>
9 8 20 markup 2 cPerson jsx_attribute_start name={
10 9 20 script 0 jsx_attribute word window
11 9 20 script 0 jsx_attribute separator .
12920script0jsx_attributewordisLoggedIn
13920script1jsx_attributeoperator?
14920script1jsx_attributewordwindow
15920script0jsx_attributeseparator.
16920script0jsx_attributewordname
17920script1jsx_attributeoperator:
18920script1jsx_attributestring''
19920script0jsx_attributeseparatorx;
20 9 20 markup 0 jsx_attribute jsx_attribute_end }
21 8 22 markup 1 cPerson comment_attribute // end of line comment
22 4 22 markup 2 Nav end </Nav>
23 3 23 script 2 paren end )
24 -1 -1 script 0 global separator ;

You can see from the above output example a couple of different types of code syntax are parsed and yet the output is uniform across all types of syntax. The example also demonstrates a JavaScript structure that contains markup code, which then contains a section of JavaScript code.

The begin and ender data columns describe the start and finish points of a structure while the stack data column names that structure. For more information please read the technical documentation or try it out in the demo tool.

Usage Examples

The production application files are written to be environment agnostic. The application files for use with brwoser and Node.js are actually identical aside from a single global reference.

Get and Configure the Application

Get the code from Github

git clone https://github.com/Unibeautify/sparser.git cd sparser npm install node js/services build

Locally install the code from NPM

npm install sparser cd node_modules/sparser npm install node js/services build

Or perform an NPM global install and not have to configure anything

npm install sparser -g

Execute the application in the terminal with Node

The command documentation is built into the terminal API. To access this documenation use the commands command to see all available commands and guidance for examples.

Locally installed

node js/services commands

Globally installed

sparser commands

Execute the application in a Node.js application

require("sparser"); const output = ""; global.sparser.options.source = "my code"; output = global.sparser.parser();

Execute the application in the browser

First, include the application into HTML.

<script type="application/javascript" src="sparser/js/browser.js"></script>

Second, execute the application

const output = ""; window.sparser.options.source = "my code"; output = window.sparser.parser();

Currently Supported Languages by Processing Lexer

45 total languages.

Contributions are welcome.

This project is young. All manners of contributions are welcome. Here are some suggested areas: