(a2ps.info)Why not using yacc

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10.3.3 Why not having used 'yacc' and such
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There are several reasons why we decided not to use grammars to parse
the files.  Firstly it would have made the design of the style sheets
much more tricky, and today a2ps would know only 4 or 5 languages.

   Secondly, it limits the number of persons who could build a style
sheet.

   Thirdly, we did not feel the need for such a powerful tool: handling
the keywords and the sequences is just what the users expect.

   Fourthly, any extension of a2ps would have required to recompile.

   And last but not least, using a parser requires that the sources are
syntactic bug free, which is too strong a requirement.

   Nevertheless, 'PreScript' gives the possibility to have on the one
hand a syntactic parser which would produce 'PreScript' code, and on the
other hand, a2ps, which would make it PostScript.  This schema seems to
us a good compromise.  If it is still not enough for you, you can use
the library.