TODO.txt

This document sets out a plan for the next iteration of TagSoup.

Change 1 will be the elimination of TagPos, and instead moving
to Tag (Position String). The big advantage will be that every string
(including attrib values) has a position, and it's easy to find.

Change 2 will be a massive increase in speed, aiming to be the
fastest HTML parser in any language.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
-- PARSER

The parser will be specified as:

data Position a = Position !Int !Int a {-# UNPACK #-}
-- ^ check that is equivalent to Position Int# Int# a

data Flag = TagOpen | AttVal | AttName | EntHex ...
          | Warn String

lexer :: String -> [Either (Position Flag) Char]
-- ^ Spec.hs plus a very minimal definition

strings :: [Either (Position Flag) Char] -> [(Flag, Position String)]
-- ^ Around 7 lines or so, only difficult bit is move Warn as it doesn't capture

tags :: Options a -> [(Flag,a)] -> [Tag a]
-- ^ Longish and handwritten. Make sure to buffer Warn when inside a tag


---------------------------------------------------------------------
-- GRAMMAR

The grammar for flags will be specified:

type Grammar = [(Flag,String)] -> Maybe [(Flag,String)]
(<+>), (<.>) :: Grammar -> Grammar -> Grammar
star :: Grammar -> Grammar


grammar = star $
    TagOpen <.> star (AttVal <.> ents <+> AttName) <.> (TagShut <+> TagShutEnd) <+>
    TagClose <+>
    Comment <+>
    Text <.> ents

ents = star $ entStart <.> entEnd
entStart = EntName <+> EntHex <+> EntNum
entEnd = EntEndNone <+> EntEndSemi

Can check the flags against the grammar (but not usually done at runtime)

Some flags must always be empty (TagShut/TagShutEnd/EntEndNone/EntNoneSemi) -
can also check this with the grammar.


---------------------------------------------------------------------
-- OPTIMISATIONS

* UNPACK on Position
* Change Flag to Int# when no Warn elements
* Eliminate all Position/Warn when not used
* Deforest all stages
* Pull the opt flags upwards
* lexer/strings should not copy on BS/LBS (the big one!)

For BS/LBS generate [(Flag,a)] in one step