Design an Error Handling Strategy for an Incremental Parser

Note: this part of the assignment has nothing to do with your cadaver compiler

In class, we (will) have discussed error recovery in compilers, and also the use of syntax analysis in an interactive incremental setting. In the case of a syntax error, the situation is different than in compilation in that

• The user may choose not to repair the error right away, but will still want the structure-based services to continue.
• After the initial stages, most of the program will be analyzed before the error recovery strategy is invoked. In particular, the left-to-right bias is much less in evidence.

Design an error handling strategy for a bottom up incremental parser. The design goals should be to limit the error as much as possible (i.e. to maintain as much valid structure as possible) and to confuse the user as little as possible. Consider both what the internal mechanisms are and what is visible to the user.