A practical approach to type-sensitive parsing

Abstract

Type-sensitive parsing of expressions is context-sensitive parsing based on type. Previous research reported a general class of algorithms for type-sensitive parsing. Unfortunately, these algorithms are impractical for languages that infer type. This paper describes a related algorithm which is much more efficient—its incremental cost is linear (with a small constant) in the length of the expression, even when types must be deduced. Our method can be applied to any statically typed language solving a variety of problems associated with conventional parsing techniques including problems with operator precedence and the interaction between infix operators and higher order functions.