From d1f0ff2ed38cf310f8c3031a1cf55bc6d80e092b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Michael Bryan <michaelfbryan@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2018 00:30:52 +0800
Subject: [PATCH] Mentioned the main players in the parser

---
 src/the-parser.md | 36 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 32 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/the-parser.md b/src/the-parser.md
index a43ae339..9a01d8a3 100644
--- a/src/the-parser.md
+++ b/src/the-parser.md
@@ -1,14 +1,42 @@
 # The Parser
 
 The parser is responsible for converting raw Rust source code into a structured
-form which is easier for the compiler to work with, usually called an *Abstract
-Syntax Tree*. The bulk of the parser lives in the [libsyntax] crate.
+form which is easier for the compiler to work with, usually called an [*Abstract
+Syntax Tree*][ast]. An AST mirrors the structure of a Rust program in memory, 
+using a `Span` to link a particular AST node back to its source text.
 
-The parsing process is made up of roughly 3 stages,
+The bulk of the parser lives in the [libsyntax] crate.
+
+Like most parsers, the parsing process is composed of two main steps,
 
 - lexical analysis - turn a stream of characters into a stream of token trees
-- macro expansion - run `proc-macros` and expand `macro_rules` macros
 - parsing - turn the token trees into an AST
 
+The `syntax` crate contains several main players,
+
+- a [`CodeMap`] for mapping AST nodes to their source code
+- the [ast module] contains types corresponding to each AST node
+- a [`StringReader`] for lexing source code into tokens
+- the [parser module] and [`Parser`] struct are in charge of actually parsing
+  tokens into AST nodes,
+- and a [visit module] for walking the AST and inspecting or mutating the AST
+  nodes.
+
+The main entrypoint to the parser is via the various `parse_*` functions
+in the [parser module]. They let you do things like turn a filemap into a
+token stream, create a parser from the token stream, and then execute the
+parser to get a `Crate` (the root AST node).
+
+To minimise the amount of copying that is done, both the `StringReader` and 
+`Parser` have lifetimes which bind them to the parent `ParseSess`. This contains
+all the information needed while parsing, as well as the `CodeMap` itself.
 
 [libsyntax]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/tree/master/src/libsyntax
+[rustc_errors]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/tree/master/src/librustc_errors
+[ast]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstract_syntax_tree
+[`CodeMap`]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/master/src/libsyntax/codemap.rs
+[ast module]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/master/src/libsyntax/ast.rs
+[parser module]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/tree/master/src/libsyntax/parse
+[`Parser`]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/master/src/libsyntax/parse/parser.rs
+[`StringReader`]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/master/src/libsyntax/parse/lexer/mod.rs
+[visit module]: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/blob/master/src/libsyntax/visit.rs
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