State machines and parsing texts

Hi, although my question is not just rails specific, I think it fits
this discussion more than the ruby discussion.

I found a state machine package very useful (http://
statemachine.rubyforge.org/). I do not know any alternatives for this.
Do you have any tips which one could be an interesting alternative?

I used the mentioned state machine for parsing of text, which although
has structure, but nothing nice like yml or xml… simple cut and
paste from old application. State machines or finite state automatons
are perhaps quite good choice for that. Do you have any ideas also for
that what can be handy for parsing such more rough things in the
future?

Thanks, bw, Georg

Fifigyuri wrote:

Hi, although my question is not just rails specific, I think it fits
this discussion more than the ruby discussion.

Probably not.

I found a state machine package very useful (http://
statemachine.rubyforge.org/). I do not know any alternatives for this.
Do you have any tips which one could be an interesting alternative?

I used the mentioned state machine for parsing of text, which although
has structure, but nothing nice like yml or xml… simple cut and
paste from old application. State machines or finite state automatons
are perhaps quite good choice for that. Do you have any ideas also for
that what can be handy for parsing such more rough things in the
future?

Parsing with state machines seems like it would be annoying. Have you
tried Treetop?

Thanks, bw, Georg

Best,

Marnen Laibow-Koser
http://www.marnen.org
[email protected]