doc: refer to cex from sections dealing with conflicts

The documentation about -Wcex should be put forward.

* doc/bison.texi: Refer to -Wcex from the sections about conflicts.
This commit is contained in:
Akim Demaille
2020-07-28 07:41:33 +02:00
parent e63f22703e
commit 6accee7716
2 changed files with 68 additions and 39 deletions

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@@ -8315,7 +8315,53 @@ write an unambiguous grammar, but that is very hard to do in this case.)
This particular ambiguity was first encountered in the specifications of
Algol 60 and is called the ``dangling @code{else}'' ambiguity.
To avoid warnings from Bison about predictable, legitimate shift/reduce
To assist the grammar author in understanding the nature of each conflict,
Bison can be asked to generate ``counterexamples''. In the present case it
actually even proves that the grammar is ambiguous by exhibiting a string
with two different parses:
@macro danglingElseCex
@group
@ifnottex
Example: @yellow{"if" expr "then"} @blue{"if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @blue{"else" stmt}
Shift derivation
@yellow{if_stmt}
@yellow{↳ "if" expr "then"} @green{stmt}
@green{↳} @blue{if_stmt}
@blue{↳ "if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @blue{"else" stmt}
Example: @yellow{"if" expr "then"} @blue{"if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @yellow{"else" stmt}
Reduce derivation
@yellow{if_stmt}
@yellow{↳ "if" expr "then"} @green{stmt} @yellow{"else" stmt}
@green{↳} @blue{if_stmt}
@blue{↳ "if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•}
@end ifnottex
@iftex
Example: @yellow{"if" expr "then"} @blue{"if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @blue{"else" stmt}
Shift derivation
@yellow{if_stmt}
@yellow{@arrow{} "if" expr "then"} @green{stmt}
@green{@arrow{}} @blue{if_stmt}
@blue{@arrow{} "if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @blue{"else" stmt}
Example: @yellow{"if" expr "then"} @blue{"if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @yellow{"else" stmt}
Reduce derivation
@yellow{if_stmt}
@yellow{@arrow{} "if" expr "then"} @green{stmt} @yellow{"else" stmt}
@green{@arrow{}} @blue{if_stmt}
@blue{@arrow{} "if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•}
@end iftex
@end group
@end macro
@example
@danglingElseCex
@end example
@noindent
@xref{Counterexamples}, for more details.
@sp 1
To avoid warnings from Bison about predictable, @emph{legitimate} shift/reduce
conflicts, you can use the @code{%expect @var{n}} declaration.
There will be no warning as long as the number of shift/reduce conflicts
is exactly @var{n}, and Bison will report an error if there is a
@@ -8706,7 +8752,8 @@ maybeword:
@end example
@noindent
The error is an ambiguity: there is more than one way to parse a single
The error is an ambiguity: as counterexample generation would demonstrate
(@pxref{Counterexamples}), there is more than one way to parse a single
@code{word} into a @code{sequence}. It could be reduced to a
@code{maybeword} and then into a @code{sequence} via the second rule.
Alternatively, nothing-at-all could be reduced into a @code{sequence}
@@ -8903,12 +8950,14 @@ name_list:
It would seem that this grammar can be parsed with only a single token of
lookahead: when a @code{param_spec} is being read, an @code{"id"} is a
@code{name} if a comma or colon follows, or a @code{type} if another
@code{"id"} follows. In other words, this grammar is LR(1).
@code{"id"} follows. In other words, this grammar is LR(1). Yet Bison
finds one reduce/reduce conflict, for which counterexample generation
(@pxref{Counterexamples}) would find a @emph{nonunifying} example.
@cindex LR
@cindex LALR
However, for historical reasons, Bison cannot by default handle all
LR(1) grammars.
This is because Bison does not handle all LR(1) grammars @emph{by default},
for historical reasons.
In this grammar, two contexts, that after an @code{"id"} at the beginning
of a @code{param_spec} and likewise at the beginning of a
@code{return_spec}, are similar enough that Bison assumes they are the
@@ -9883,6 +9932,9 @@ and understand the parser run-time traces (@pxref{Tracing}).
@node Counterexamples
@section Generation of Counterexamples
@cindex cex
@cindex counterexamples
@cindex conflict counterexamples
Solving conflicts is probably the most delicate part of the design of an LR
parser, as demonstrated by the number of sections devoted to them in this
@@ -9899,8 +9951,8 @@ That task is made much easier thanks to the generation of counterexamples,
initially developed by Chinawat Isradisaikul and Andrew Myers
@pcite{Isradisaikul 2015}.
As a first example, see the example grammar of @ref{Shift/Reduce}, which
features one shift/reduce conflict:
As a first example, see the grammar of @ref{Shift/Reduce}, which features
one shift/reduce conflict:
@c see doc/if-then-else.y
@example
@@ -9917,40 +9969,11 @@ output is actually in color)}:
@example
if-then-else.y: @dwarning{warning}: 1 shift/reduce conflict [@dwarning{-Wconflicts-sr}]
if-then-else.y: @dwarning{warning}: shift/reduce conflict on token "else" [@dwarning{-Wcounterexamples}]
@group
@ifnottex
Example: @yellow{"if" expr "then"} @blue{"if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @blue{"else" stmt}
Shift derivation
@yellow{if_stmt}
@yellow{↳ "if" expr "then"} @green{stmt}
@green{↳} @blue{if_stmt}
@blue{↳ "if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @blue{"else" stmt}
Example: @yellow{"if" expr "then"} @blue{"if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @yellow{"else" stmt}
Reduce derivation
@yellow{if_stmt}
@yellow{↳ "if" expr "then"} @green{stmt} @yellow{"else" stmt}
@green{↳} @blue{if_stmt}
@blue{↳ "if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•}
@end ifnottex
@iftex
Example: @yellow{"if" expr "then"} @blue{"if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @blue{"else" stmt}
Shift derivation
@yellow{if_stmt}
@yellow{@arrow{} "if" expr "then"} @green{stmt}
@green{@arrow{}} @blue{if_stmt}
@blue{@arrow{} "if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @blue{"else" stmt}
Example: @yellow{"if" expr "then"} @blue{"if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•} @yellow{"else" stmt}
Reduce derivation
@yellow{if_stmt}
@yellow{@arrow{} "if" expr "then"} @green{stmt} @yellow{"else" stmt}
@green{@arrow{}} @blue{if_stmt}
@blue{@arrow{} "if" expr "then" stmt} @red{•}
@end iftex
@end group
@danglingElseCex
@end example
This shows two different derivations for one single expression. That
demonstrates that the grammar is ambiguous.
This shows two different derivations for one single expression, which proves
that the grammar is ambiguous.
@sp 1
@@ -15627,6 +15650,10 @@ permitted. @xref{Language and Grammar}.
A sequence of tokens and/or nonterminals, with one dot, that demonstrates a
conflict. The dot marks the place where the conflict occurs.
@cindex unifying counterexample
@cindex counterexample, unifying
@cindex nonunifying counterexample
@cindex counterexample, nonunifying
A @emph{unifying} counterexample is a single string that has two different
parses; its existence proves that the grammar is ambiguous. When a unifying
counterexample cannot be found in reasonable time, a @emph{nonunifying}