Thinking about the dodekalogue, so I threw this together. It's a Tcl parser in Tcl. It tries to follow the dodekalogue assiduously.
# tclParser.tcl - a naive first principles tcl parser oo::class create Parser { variable rest next accum done count endc escaped method next {} { incr count set next [string index $rest 0] append accum $next set rest [string range $rest 1 end] set done [expr {[string length $rest] == 0}] return $next } method pushback {char} { set rest $char$rest } method skip {{chars 1}} { incr count $chars set result [string range $rest 0 $chars-1] set rest [string range $rest $chars end] set done [expr {[string length $rest] == 0}] return $result } method lookahead {{chars 1}} { set done [expr {[string length $rest] <= $chars}] return [string range $rest 0 $chars-1] } method inject {ch} { append accum $ch } method consume {} { set a $accum set accum "" return $a } method comment {} { while {!$done && [my skip] ne "\n"} {} } method bsnl {} { if {[my lookahead] eq "\n"} { while {[string is space -strict [my lookahead]]} {my skip} my inject " " } } method goatse {eoc} { my skip 3 return [list goatse [my cword $eoc]] } method brace {} { set level -1 while {[set ch [my lookahead]] ne ""} { switch -exact -- $ch { \{ { my next incr level } \} { my next incr level -1 if {$level < 0} { set result [string range [my consume] 1 end-1] ;# strip braces return [list brace $result] } } \\ { if {[my lookahead 2] eq "\\\n"} { my skip ;# skip the backslash my bsnl ;# do \\n subst } elseif {[my lookahead 2] eq "\\\\"} { my next my next } elseif {[my lookahead 2] eq "\\\{"} { my next my next } elseif {[my lookahead 2] eq "\\\}"} { my next my next } else { my next } } default { my next } } } error "unmatched brace '[my consume]'" } method skipws {} { while {[string is space -strict [string index $rest 0]]} { my skip } } method eocommand {eoc} { return [expr {[my lookahead] in $eoc}] } # skipcws - skip whitespace terminating on end of command method skipcws {eoc} { while {[string is space -strict [string index $rest 0]]} { if {[my eocommand $eoc]} { return -code break "end of command" } my skip } } # skipclass - skip and return a contiguous prefix matching a class method skipclass {cc {end end}} { string is $cc -strict -failindex fail [string range $rest 0 $end] if {[info exists fail]} { set result [string range $rest 0 $fail-1] my skip $fail } else { # the entire $rest matches class set result [string range $rest 0 end] my skip [string length $result] } return $result } # char - gather a character with backslash substitution method char {} { set escaped 0 if {[my lookahead] eq "\\"} { my skip set escaped 1 switch -exact -- [my lookahead] { a - b - f - n - r - t - v { my skip; my inject [subst \\[my lookahead]] } \n { my skip; my bsnl; set next " " } \\ { my skip; my inject [set next \\] } x { my skip; ;# skip the literal "x" set hex [my skipclass xdigit] set hex [string index $hex end-1][string index $hex end] my inject [set next [binary decode hex $hex]] } u { my skip string is xdigit -strict -failindex hexl $rest if {![info exists hexl] || $hexl > 4} { set hexl 4 } set hex [my skip $hexl] my inject [set next [subst \\$hex]] unset hexl } default { my next } } } else { my next } return $next } method bracket {} { set commands {} set eoc {\n ; "" \]} while {!$done && ![my eocommand $eoc]} { set command [my command $eoc] if {[llength $command]} { lappend commands $command } if {[my skip] eq "\]"} { break } } if {[llength $commands] == 1} { return [lindex $commands 0] } else { return [list script $commands] } } method var {} { # ${name} form if {[my lookahead] eq "\{"} { while {!$done && [my char] != "\}"} {} set var [string range [my consume] 0 end-1] return [list var $var] } # $name or $name(index) form set var "" while {!$done && [string is alnum -strict [set ch [my char]]] || $ch eq ":" || $ch eq "_"} { append var $ch } if {$ch ne "("} { my pushback $ch my consume return [list var $var] } set index "" while (!$done) { if {[set ch [my char]] eq ")" && !$escaped} break append index $ch } my consume return [list var $var $index] } method quote {} { if {[my next] ne "\""} { error "parsing quote without quote" } my consume set result {} while {!$done} { # accumulate a word character switch -exact -- [my char] { \" { # got close quote set accum [string range $accum 0 end-1] if {$accum ne ""} { lappend result [list literal $accum] my consume } break } \[ { if {$accum ne "\["} { lappend result [list literal [string range [my consume] 0 end-1]] } else { my consume ;# delete open bracket } lappend result [my bracket] } \$ { if {$accum ne "\$"} { lappend result [list literal [string range [my consume] 0 end-1]] } lappend result [my var] } default { } } } if {$done} { error "no close quote" } if {[llength $result] == 1} { return [lindex $result 0] } else { return [list qcompound {*}$result] } } method word {eoc} { set result {} while {!$done && [set la [my lookahead]] ni $eoc && ![string is space -strict $la] } { # accumulate a word character switch -exact -- [set ch [my char]] { \[ { if {$accum ne "\["} { lappend result [list literal [string range [my consume] 0 end-1]] } else { my consume ;# delete open bracket } lappend result [my bracket] } \$ { if {$accum ne "\$"} { lappend result [list literal [string range [my consume] 0 end-1]] } lappend result [my var] } default { } } } if {$accum ne ""} { lappend result [list literal [my consume]] } if {[llength $result] == 1} { return [lindex $result 0] } else { return [list compound {*}$result] } } method cword {eoc} { try { my skipcws $eoc ;# skip whitespace and break on end of command } on break {e eo} { # end of command return -code break "end of command" } if {[my lookahead 3] eq "{*}"} { tailcall my goatse $eoc } switch -exact -- [my lookahead] { \{ { tailcall my brace } \" { tailcall my quote } default { tailcall my word $eoc } } } method command {{eoc {\n ; ""}}} { # skip leading comments my skipws ;# skip plain whitespace while {[my lookahead] eq "#"} { my comment my skipws ;# skip all whitespace } if {$done} { return {} } set result {} while {!$done && ![my eocommand $eoc]} { lappend result [my cword $eoc] } if {[llength $result]} { return [list command {*}$result] } else { return {} } } method parse {script} { set rest $script while {!$done} { lappend commands [my command] my skip ;# consume the end of command character } return [list script {*}$commands] } method reset {} { set done 0 set endc "" set escaped 0 catch {unset rest} catch {unset next} catch {unset accum} catch {unset count} } constructor {args} { my reset } } oo::class create Interpreter { method compound {args} { set result {} foreach el $args { append result [my {*}$el] } return $result } method qcompound {args} { return \"[my compound {*}$args]\" } method goatse {el} { return \{*\}[my {*}$el] } method var {var args} { if {[llength $args]} { return \$${var}([lindex $args 0]) } else { return \$$var } } method brace {el} { return \{$el\} } method quote {el} { return \"$el\" } method literal {el} { return $el } method command {args} { foreach el $args { lappend command [my {*}$el] } set caller [lindex [info level -1] 1] if {$caller eq "script"} { return [join $command] } else { return \[[join $command]\] } } method script {args} { foreach command $args { if {![llength $command]} continue lappend commands [my {*}$command] } return [join $commands \;] } } if {0} { set tclp [Parser new] set script [$tclp parse [read stdin]] puts $script interpreter create I puts [I {*}$script] } if {0} { #set test "quote[test]passed" #set test word[test]passed #set test test$test(that)those set test [list {*}$moop] } Parser create mp Interpreter create mi foreach m [info class methods Parser] { mp reset set parsed [mp parse [lindex [info class definition Parser $m] 1]] puts "$m: [mi {*}$parsed]" }