19

C H A P T E R

LALR(1) Grammar

T

HIS chapter presents a grammar for Java. The grammar has been mechanically

checked to insure that it is LALR(1).

The grammar for Java presented piecemeal in the preceding chapters is much

better for exposition, but it cannot be parsed left to right with one token of looka 

head because of certain syntactic peculiarities, some of them inherited from C and

C++. These problems and the solutions adopted for the LALR(1) grammar are

presented below, followed by the grammar itself.

19.1   Grammatical Difficulties

There are five problems with the grammar presented in preceding chapters.

19.1.1   Problem #1: Names Too Specific

Consider the two groups of productions:

PackageName:

Identifier

PackageName

 .

Identifier

TypeName:

Identifier

PackageName

 .

Identifier

and:

MethodName:

Identifier

AmbiguousName

 .

Identifier

AmbiguousName:

Identifier

AmbiguousName

 .

Identifier

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