Understanding Parser Combinators - A Deep Dive

Dive deep into the world of parser combinators in this comprehensive 53-minute conference talk. Learn how to build a parser combinator library from scratch using functional programming techniques in F#. Explore the concept of combinators, understand why parsing is important, and discover how to create simple parsers. Progress through more advanced topics such as map combinators, fixing operators, and compound combinators. Follow along with a live demo and learn how to improve parser performance. Apply your newfound knowledge to construct a full-featured JSON parser, covering various data types including null, strings, lists, Unicode characters, and integers. Gain valuable insights into this alternative approach to traditional parsing methods, which offers simplicity comparable to regular expressions.

Intro
Outline
What is a Combinator
Why parse
Simple parser
Combinators
Map Combinator
Fix Operators
Demo
Compound Combinators
Parsing
More combinators
Improving the parser
Building a JSON parser
Null
Strings
List of passes
Unicode character
Integers
Combine
Parse
Summary
Outro