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compiler/chapter_3.md

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+
+# Parser
+
+In this chaper I'll show how I would make a parser.
+
+A parser, in addition to our lexer, transforms the input program as text, meaning an unstructured sequence of characters, into a structered representation. Structured meaning the representation tells us about the different constructs such as if statements and expressions.
+
+## Abstract Syntax Tree AST
+
+The result of parsing is a tree structure representing the input program.
+
+This structure is a recursive acyclic structure storing the different parts of the program.
+
+This is how I would define an AST data type.
+
+```ts
+type Stmt = {
+    kind: StmtKind,
+    pos: Pos,
+};
+
+type StmtKind =
+    | { type: "error" }
+    // ...
+    | { type: "let", ident: string, value: Expr }
+    // ...
+    ;
+
+type Expr = {
+    kind: ExprKind,
+    pos: Pos,
+};
+
+type ExprKind =
+    | { type: "error" }
+    // ...
+    | { type: "int", value: number }
+    // ...
+    ;
+```
+
+## Consumer of lexer
+
+To start, we'll implement a `Parser` class, which for now is simply a consumer of a token iterater, meaning the lexer. In simple terms, whereas the lexer is a transformation from text to tokens, the parser is a transformation from token to an AST, except that the parser is not an iterator.
+
+```ts
+class Parser {
+    private currentToken: Token | null;
+
+    public constructor(private lexer: Lexer) {
+        this.currentToken = lexer.next();
+    }
+    // ...
+    private step() { this.currentToken = this.lexer.next() }
+    private done(): bool { return this.currentToken == null; }
+    private current(): Token { return this.currentToken!; }
+    // ...
+}
+```
+
+This implementation should look familiar compared to the lexer. We use the `currentToken` as a 'buffer', and then just use the `.next()` on the `lexer`.
+
+Just as the lexer, we'll have a `.pos()` method, returning the current position.
+
+```ts
+class Parser {
+    // ...
+    private pos(): Pos { return this.current().pos; }
+    // ...
+}
+```
+
+The parser does not need to keep track of `index`, `line` and `col` as those are stored in the tokens.
+
+Also like the lexer, we'll have a `.test()` method in the parser, which will test for token type rather than strings or regex.
+
+```ts
+class Parser {
+    // ...
+    private test(type: string): bool { return this.current().type === type; }
+    // ...
+}
+```
+
+## Operands
+