From: Gavin Kistner <gavin@...>
Date: 2005-06-23T11:55:52+09:00
Subject: Re: Creating a new Syntax tokenizer

>> 3) How do I keep track of state during successive calls to #step?  
>> I tried an instance variable, but that doesn't seem to exist  
>> across calls.
>>
>
> Instance variables should work--I use them successfully in the Ruby  
> tokenizer, for instance. Feel free to contact me off-list and I can  
> help troubleshoot this if it isn't working for you.

Hrm, I'll have to try it again sometime. Perhaps I screwed up when I  
tried it.

>> Following is my terrible, broken attempt at the basics of what I'm  
>> after. Am I totally misunderstanding how to use Syntax?
>
> Without actually trying to run it, I'd say you've got the idea.  
> This is an interesting use of Syntax--given that Syntax was  
> intended for use as a highlighter, I wouldn't have thought to use  
> it as a more general purpose parser, but it can definitely be used  
> for that. Clever! :)

Thanks for the help in your response. As noted in my OWLScratch post,  
after thinking about the problem more and more, I decided that I  
wanted a more state-based solution than Syntax seemed to surround,  
but I want to thank you very much for the library, as the concepts in  
it really helped me in my thinking (and introduced me to  
StringScanner - what a gem!).