I'd like to share some of my learning about this stuff as I'm going through it. I've been meaning to write something for a while but since I am actually writing a parser now I figured what better a time to show what I'm up to?

So first and foremost I want to send up the signal flares: I am perpetually learning. I wouldn't call anything you see here an example of best practices. My main reason for wanting to share this is to help people wrap their heads around parsing. It seems so big the first time to try to tackle it. If you try to learn about it by seeing a finished parser it's pretty complicated looking and intimidating if it's designed well. If it isn't designed well, it's just a mind fuck.

By showing you my steps on building one from scratch from my limited perspective, I'm hoping it will serve as a kind of halfway understanding, a bridge if you will, between not understanding and understanding completely.