enso/docs/parser/README.md

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---
layout: docs-index
title: Enso's Parser
category: summary
tags: [parser, readme]
order: 0
---
# Enso's Parser
The parser is one of the most crucial components of the Enso runtime in that
_all_ code that a user writes must be parsed. This means that a good parser is
fast, responsive, and lightweight; it shouldn't baulk at having thousands of
lines of code thrown at it.
Enso's parser, however, is very special. In order to support interactive use it
has to narrow down the scope of a syntax error as much as possible, while still
providing useful output for the compiler around the rest of the parse errors.
This feature makes it more complex than many common parsers, so making this work
while still preserving performance is of paramount importance.
The various components of the parser's design and architecture are described
below:
- [**Tech Analysis:**](./tech-analysis.md) A brief overview of the reasons for
the implementation technologies for the parser.
- [**Parser Architecture:**](./architecture.md) An overview of the architecture
of the parser as a whole.
- [**Lexer:**](./lexer.md) The Enso lexer, responsible for tokenising the input
stream of source code.
- [**Macro Resolution:**](./macro-resolution.md) The system for defining and
resolving macros on the token stream.
- [**Operator Resolution:**](./operator-resolution.md) The system for resolving
operator applications properly.
- [**Construct Resolution:**](./construct-resolution.md) The system for
resolving higher-level language constructs in the AST to produce a useful
output.
- [**Parser Driver:**](./parser-driver.md)
- [**AST:**](./ast.md) The parser AST.
- [**JVM Object Generation:**](./jvm-object-generation.md) The process for
generating the ast representation on the JVM via reflection.
- [**Reading Source Code:**](./reader.md) The flexible architecture for reading
source code into the lexer.