| Pattern 4 | LL(k) Recursive-Descent Parser |
Purpose
This pattern analyzes the syntactic structure of the token sequence of a phrase using k>1 lookahead tokens.
An LL(k) parser augments the previous pattern with up to a fixed number of lookahead tokens, k.
Discussion
The strength of a recursive-descent parser depends entirely on the strength of its lookahead decisions. A single token of lookahead is pretty weak in that we usually have to contort grammars to make them LL(1). By allowing a larger (but still fixed) lookahead buffer, we get a parser strong enough for most computer languages. This includes configuration files, data formats, network protocols, graphics languages, and many programming languages. Some programming languages present tougher ...
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