Re^4: Are state machines just for parsing?

1. : to resolve (as a sentence) into component parts of speech and describe them grammatically
2. : to describe grammatically by stating the part of speech and explaining the inflection and syntactical relationships
: to examine in a minute way : analyze critically [parses appellate court opinions]

So to use 'parse' as the verb that means 'look at what actions are happening and respond in a certain manner' is being generous.

I think this is a case where we'll have to agree to disagree.

Alex / talexb / Toronto

"Groklaw is the open-source mentality applied to legal research" ~ Linus Torvalds

Comment on Re^4: Are state machines just for parsing?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Are state machines just for parsing? by benizi (Hermit) on Dec 08, 2004 at 22:26 UTC
It's worth noting that your source doesn't even have an entry for the programming sense of "parse", and so seems an odd way to back up your argument. AHD's entry for "parse" (4 ed., via dictionary.com) contains: parse v. tr. ... 4. Computer Science: To analyze or separate (input, for example) into more easily processed components. That seems to encompass what Anonymonk described as "parsing" -- analyzing (TCP/IP) input into more easily processed components. It's still not in my lexicon with that broad a sense, though; my take is probably closer to M-W sense 1.1, without restricting the domain to { things that have "component parts of speech" } (i.e. the first M-W sense without limiting it to "natural" languages).	[reply]

Replies are listed 'Best First'.

Re: Are state machines just for parsing?
by benizi (Hermit) on Dec 08, 2004 at 22:26 UTC

It's worth noting that your source doesn't even have an entry for the programming sense of "parse", and so seems an odd way to back up your argument. AHD's entry for "parse" (4 ed., via dictionary.com) contains:

parse v. tr. ... 4. Computer Science: To analyze or separate (input, for example) into more easily processed components.

That seems to encompass what Anonymonk described as "parsing" -- analyzing (TCP/IP) input into more easily processed components. It's still not in my lexicon with that broad a sense, though; my take is probably closer to M-W sense 1.1, without restricting the domain to { things that have "component parts of speech" } (i.e. the first M-W sense without limiting it to "natural" languages).

[reply]