Parsing JSON the fun way: monadic parsers, records and type providers (Part 2)

Article
10/17/2011

We went through the process of building a parser from scratch in part 1, starting by a parser that can read a single char from an input string, and then sequencing it to build more capable parsers. I ended it up by saying we have the building blocks to build general parsers and that F# can provide us with some magic if we wrap up our parsers into computation expressions.

We will stick to the one line programming language once more for part 2 (last time, promise), and will slowly get to the magical Parser Monads. By the end of this post, we should have all parsers from the Monadic Parsing in Haskell paper up and running.

Sugar Love

You probably noticed we kept using expressions like “a thing Parser”, “an ‘a Parser”, “satisfy this predicate Parser”, etc. everywhere in part 1 of the series. It seems logical, at this point, to embrace this concept and code it accordingly in F#, doesn’t it? Remembering again Dr. Seuss’ parser definition using F# notation:

‘a Parser : char list -> (‘a * char list) list

Let’s create a “container” for our parsers using an algebraic type – we will simply take the parser definition as-is, and enclose it into a Parser container:

 type 'a Parser = Parser of (char list -> ('a * char list) list)
F# Web Snippets

Got it? We didn’t really do much, literally just copied and pasted Dr. Seuss definition… Any of the parsers we built in part 1 can be encapsulated into this Parser container, for example, remember our char Parser called cParser?

 let cParser = function [] -> [] | c::cs -> [c, cs]

Let’s wrap it into the Parser type and call it item (adopting the name convention from Erik's paper):

 let item = Parser (function [] -> [] | c::cs -> [c, cs])

Hover your mouse over item and let me know what you see… Correct! As expected item is now officially a char Parser! Let’s test it and see if it works (s2cs was defined in the last post):

> "Test" |> s2cs |> item;;

"Test" |> s2cs |> item;;
------------------^^^^

C:\Users\fzandona\AppData\Local\Temp\stdin(3,19): error FS0001: This expression was expected to have type
char list -> 'a
but here has type
char Parser

Oops! Clearly we cannot use the same approach we've been using here; we need to first extract the function form inside the Parser type before applying it. Thanks to F#’s pattern matching, we can write:

 let parse (Parser p) = p

And use it like this:

> "Test" |> s2cs |> parse item;;
val it : (char * char list) list = [('T', ['e'; 's'; 't'])]

Good, we are back in business!

Digressing a little bit here, you’ve probably already noticed that I really like to chain functions together by “pipelining” them using the pipeline operator ( |> ); it looks very expressive to me, for example, the F# line above can be read as: take “Text” and send it to s2cs, take the result (a char list) and send it to (parse item). Compare it to, where you need to read the code backwards:

> parse item (s2cs "Text");;
val it : (char * char list) list = [('T', ['e'; 'x'; 't'])]

Back on track, we will continue wrapping all parsers we’ve built so far with our Parser container in a minute, but let’s focus initially at these 3 functions we worked on:

 let returnParser thing = fun cs -> [thing, cs]
let zeroParser () = fun _ -> []
let bindParser (p:(char list -> ('a * char list) list), (f : 'a -> (char list -> ('b * char list) list))) = 
    fun cs -> 
        match p cs with
        | (c', cs')::_ -> (f c') cs'
        | [] -> []

We use these guys a lot so let’s give them some TLC. Not sure if you realized, but they all comply with Dr. Seuss definition, so it is going to be a good thing to encapsulate them into the new Parser type, giving us:

 let returnParser' thing = Parser (fun cs -> [thing, cs])
let zeroParser' () = Parser (fun _ -> [])
let bindParser' (p : ('a Parser), f : ('a -> 'b Parser)) = 
    Parser(
        fun cs -> 
            match parse p cs with 
            | (c', cs')::_ -> parse (f c') cs'
            | [] -> []
    )

Note that the only difference from this snippet and the previous one is the existence of the parser container, and the use of our parse function to extract the parser from the container before applying it. By the way, hover your mouse over these functions and note how cleaner the type definitions are, we got rid of all that “char list” noise thanks to the Parser type!

Second, because these function/parsers are so important, and now that we have them beautifully wrapped, how about putting them into a type class for “organizational reasons”?

 type ParserBuilder () =
    member x.Return a = Parser (fun cs -> [a, cs])
    member x.Bind (p, f) = Parser (fun cs -> 
        match parse p cs with
        | (c', cs')::_ -> parse (f c') cs'
        | [] -> []
    )
    member x.Zero () = Parser (fun _ -> [])
    member x.ReturnFrom a = a

let parser = ParserBuilder()

No changes here, just a class with our previous functions as members, simple and clean (well, I actually sneaked in another member called ReturnFrom, which is just an id function, meaning it returns whatever it receives as input; you will see why we need it later). We also defined a parser value, which is just an instance of our ParserBuilder class.

The next two parsers we built last time were satisfyParser and the tcParser (“this specific char Parser”):

 let satisfyParser pred = 
    bindParser(cParser, fun c ->
        if pred c then returnParser c else zeroParser()
    )

let tcParser c = satisfyParser ((=) c)

We should build them in the new neater way by using the parser instance (let parser = ParserBuilder() ) and the item parser:

 let satisfyParser' pred = 
    parser.Bind(item, fun c ->
        if pred c then parser.Return c else parser.Zero()
    )

let tcParser' c =  satisfyParser' ((=) c)

No news here, just a plain straight rewrite using the new function notations.

Let the magic begin

So far so good, but it can get tiring very quickly if we need to keep calling all those binds, returns and zeros, to build more capable parsers - so let’s let the F# compiler do it for us!

I actually tricked you into creating the ParserBuilder class for “organization purposes” only, I did have a hidden goal… It turns out that, whenever the compiler sees a class type with some especial methods like the ones in ParserBuilder, it does some under-the-covers magic and provides us with some well-deserved syntactic sugar (interestingly enough, you will see that this new syntax allows us to write code that looks very similar to the imperative style, go figure...). For example, satisfyParser’ and tcParser’ can now be written as (renaming them to sat and tChar respectively):

 let sat pred = parser {
    let! c = item
    if pred c then return c
}

let tChar c = sat ((=) c)

This is very neat, isn’t it? They call it computation expressions, but I prefer to call it "the magical syntactic sugar that allows me to easily sequence and compose computations". It is exactly the same behavior as before, but with some magical sugar from the compiler: let! c = item is replaced by parser.Bind(item, fun c -> ...) ; everything after the let! line is added to the continuation function of the Bind call, and finally return c is replaced by the call to parser.Return c. Note how “sweet” this notation is: we don’t even need an else branch in the conditional test above, the compiler is attaching the call to the Zero() for us! You can find all special methods for the "builder types" (like our ParserBuilder class) on this MSDN entry.

If you reached this far, I have a suprise for you! You may not have noticed, but you’ve just built your very first Parser Monad! Congrats! It didn’t even hurt, did it?

No kidding! F#’s computation expression is F#’s syntax for monads, so applying some logic here: a parser using computation expression is a parser using monad, which is a Parser Monad! Cool, now go and tell everyone you’ve conquered the “Monadic Parser Badge” :-).

Using this new notation, let’s port to F# the remaining parsers from Erik’s paper: a couple of “choice combinators”, the "recursion combinators" and finally the "lexical combinators".

Choice Combinators

Plus and Or Parsers

 /// Concatenates the results of applying parser p and parser q
let (<+>) p q = Parser (fun cs -> (parse p cs) @ (parse q cs))
/// Applies parser p or parser q and returns at most one result
let (<|>) p q = Parser (fun cs -> 
    match (parse (p <+> q) cs) with
    | []    -> []
    | x::xs -> [x]
)

The “plus” parser ( <+> ) sequences two parsers (p and q) on the same input string and concatenates the resulting lists. We use this “plus” parser to build an “or” parser which returns at most one result: the result of applying p if it succeeds, or the result of applying q if p fails (or empty list if both fail).

The somewhat weird <+> and <|> function names allow us to use them in an infix manner, so we can write things like: aParser <+> bParser or cParser <|> dParser.

Let’s run them on F# interactive to better understand their behavior:

> "Test" |> s2cs |> parse (tChar 'T' <+> tChar 'T');;
val it : (char * char list) list =
[('T', ['e'; 's'; 't']); ('T', ['e'; 's'; 't'])]

> "Test" |> s2cs |> parse (tChar 'T' <|> tChar 'T');;
val it : (char * char list) list = [('T', ['e'; 's'; 't'])]

> "Test" |> s2cs |> parse (tChar 'T' <+> tChar 'Z');;
val it : (char * char list) list = [('T', ['e'; 's'; 't'])]

> "Test" |> s2cs |> parse (tChar 'T' <|> tChar 'Z');;
val it : (char * char list) list = [('T', ['e'; 's'; 't'])]

> "Test" |> s2cs |> parse (tChar 'Z' <|> tChar 'T');;
val it : (char * char list) list = [('T', ['e'; 's'; 't'])]

> "Test" |> s2cs |> parse (tChar 'Z' <+> tChar 'T');;
val it : (char * char list) list = [('T', ['e'; 's'; 't'])]

> "Test" |> s2cs |> parse (tChar 'Z' <+> tChar 'Z');;
val it : (char * char list) list = []

Recursion Combinators

Text Parser

 /// Given a char list, returns a parser that parsers it
let rec text = function
    | []  -> parser { return [] }
    | c::cs -> parser { 
        let! _ = tChar c
        let! _ = text cs
        return c::cs 
    }

The text parser is very similar to the stringParser we built in the last post: it takes a char list as parameter and builds a parser that is capable of parsing that specific char list:

> let thisParser = text (s2cs "This");;

val thisParser : char list Parser = Parser <fun:Bind@40>

> "This is a test" |> s2cs |> parse thisParser;;
val it : (char list * char list) list =
[(['T'; 'h'; 'i'; 's'], [' '; 'i'; 's'; ' '; 'a'; ' '; 't'; 'e'; 's'; 't'])]

Many and Many1 Parsers

 /// Combines many (0 or more) applications of parser p
let rec many p = (many1 p) <|> parser { return [] }
/// Combines at least one (1 or more) applications of parser p
and many1 p = 
    parser { 
        let! r = p
        let! rs = many p
        return r::rs
    }

Many and its brother many1 are really useful parsers when you need to sequence zero to many, or one to many, applications of a parser. For example, remember the homework from the last post, how to parse “fun z = 7”? We can now use many/many1 to easily consume all those white spaces from the input string:

 type FunAST = Fun of (char * int)
let funParser = parser {
    let! _ = text (s2cs "fun")
    let! _ = many1 (tChar ' ')
    return Fun
}
let identParser = parser {
    let! ident = item
    let! _ = many (tChar ' ')
    return ident
}
let digitParser = parser {
    let! d = sat Char.IsDigit
    let! _ = many (tChar ' ')
    return (d |> string |> Int32.Parse)
}
let equalParser = parser {
    let! c = tChar '='
    let! _ = many (tChar ' ')
    return c
}
let funLangParser = parser {
    let! _ = many (tChar ' ')
    let! funFunc = funParser
    let! ident = identParser
    let! _ = equalParser
    let! digit = digitParser
    return funFunc(ident, digit)
}

> "fun z = 7" |> s2cs |> parse funLangParser;;
val it : (FunAST * char list) list = [(Fun ('z', 7), [])]
> "fun z = 7 " |> s2cs |> parse funLangParser;;
val it : (FunAST * char list) list = [(Fun ('z', 7), [])]
> "fail z = 7 " |> s2cs |> parse funLangParser;;
val it : (FunAST * char list) list = []

Sepby and Sepby1 Parsers

 /// Combines 0 or more applications of parser p separated by parser sep
let rec sepby p sep =  (sepby1 p sep) <|> parser { return [] }
/// Combines 1 or more applications of parser p separated by parser sep
and sepby1 p sep = 
    parser {
        let! r = p
        let! rs = many (parser { 
            let! _ = sep
            return! p
        })
        return r::rs
    }

The next pair of recursion combinators is sepby and sepby1 – they are also very useful when you have a parsing pattern, e.g. things “separated” by other things. They both take two parsers as parameters, a parser to be repeatedly sequenced, and a “separation” parser, that is thrown away. Note how they rely on many and <|> in their implementation. To test them, let’s pretend we can now have entries like this in our fun language:

fun x = 1;
fun z = 9;

We could easily parse them by using the sepby/sepby1 parsers:

 let sepParser = parser {
    let! _ = many (tChar ' ')
    let! c = tChar ';'
    return c
}

let improvedLangParser = sepby1 funLangParser sepParser

> "fun z = 1;" |> s2cs |> parse improvedLangParser;;
val it : (FunAST list * char list) list = [([Fun ('z', 1)], [';'])]
> "fun z = 1; fun y = 2; fun w = 3" |> s2cs |> parse improvedLangParser;;
val it : (FunAST list * char list) list =
[([Fun ('z', 1); Fun ('y', 2); Fun ('w', 3)], [])]

Chainl and Chainl1 Parsers

 /// Chain 0 or more applications of parser p separated by applications of parser op
let rec chainl p op a = (chainl1  p op) <|> parser { return a }
/// Chain 1 or more applications of parser p separated by applications of parser op
and chainl1 p op =  
    let rec rest r = 
        parser {
            let! f = op
            let! r' = p
            return! rest (f r r')
        } <|> parser {return r}

    parser { let! a = p in return! rest a }

Finally the last pair of recursion combinators is chainl and chainl1 – they are a little bit trickier though, they parse repeated applications of parser p separated by applications of parser op, similar to sepby; however, op is a left associative operator parser (ohh… I’ve got to use that phrase tonight at the dinner table!). If p is an ‘a Parser, then op will be an (‘a -> ‘a -> ‘a) Parser…

Improving even more our fun language, let’s now support code like “fun x = 1 + 1” by using the chainl and <|> parsers:

 let sumParser = parser {
    let! _ = tChar '+'
    let! _ = many (tChar ' ')
    return (+)
}
let digitParser' = 
    chainl1 digitParser sumParser 
    <|> digitParser

let funLangParser' = parser {
    let! _ = many (tChar ' ')
    let! funFunc = funParser
    let! ident = identParser
    let! _ = equalParser
    let! digit = digitParser'
    return funFunc(ident, digit)
}

let improvedLangParser' = sepby1 funLangParser' sepParser

> "fun x=1+ 1; fun z = 9 + 1 + 2 + 3; fun w = 5" |> s2cs |> parse improvedLangParser';;
val it : (FunAST list * char list) list =
[([Fun ('x', 2); Fun ('z', 15); Fun ('w', 5)], [])]

Hover over the new sumParser parser and you will notice it is a (int -> int -> int) Parser and it returns a left associative operator (+). We use it in the new digitParser’ by chaining digitParser with it. We then apply <|> to try both options, e.g. , a digit in our language can be a sum of digits (chainl1 digitParser sumParser), or ( <|> ) a single digit (digitParser): at most one of these two parsers must return a value. It is also important to note the order used to in the <|> call, had digitParser been used first (e.g. “digitParser <|> chainl1 digitParser sumParser”), chainl1 would never have a chance to be applied, because digitParser would always return the first digit of the sum.

Lexical Combinators

These are very simple parsers but yet very handy. They will implement some of the functionality we’ve been hardcoding so far.

Space Parser

 let isSpace =
    // list of "space" chars based on 
    // https://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/base/latest/doc/html/Data-Char.html#v:isSpace
    let cs = [' '; '\t'; '\n'; '\r'; '\f'; '\v'] |> Set.ofList
    cs.Contains
let space = many (sat isSpace)

space comes to get us out of the business of parsing whitespaces. We build a predicate function (isSpace) using a set of chars we want to consider as whitespaces (I’m basing mine on the same ones used by Haskell’s Data.Char.isSpace), and then we create a parser that is capable of “parsing many characters that satisfy the isSpace predicate” (I like how the function implementation easily translates to English: many (sat isSpace) ).

Token Parser

 let token p = parser { 
    let! r = p
    let! _ = space
    return r
}

token takes a parser, sequences it and the space parser, returning the result of the application of the input parser; in other words, it will apply a parser you give it and remove all white space afterwards, returning the parsed thing.

Symbol Parser

 let symb = text >> token

symb takes it further by composing a text parser and a token parser (for the less “functional composition” savvy, it could be written as let symb cs = token (text cs) :-). This little guy will allow us to parse a specific string (a literal, for example) with whitespace clean up afterwards… and it will be used a lot.

Apply Parser

 let apply p = parse (parser {
    let! _ = space
    let! r = p
    return r
})

Last but not least, apply is used to initiate the parsing computation: it calls parse (the extraction function we defined earlier) on a parser that cleans up the initial whitespace (if any) of the string to be parsed and applies the parser you give it to the rest of the string.

Final fun language parser

Let’s take all these parser combinators and build yet another, but this time really final, version of our fun language parser. Just because we now have more building blocks in our bag, let’s add the capability of accepting more than one digit at time (“fun a = 123 + 321”), by using many1 in the digit parser (see below):

 let funP = parser { let! _ = symb (s2cs "fun") in return Fun }
let

identP = parser {
    let! c = token item
    let! _ = symb ['=']
    return c
}

let sumP = parser { let! _ = symb ['+'] in return (+) }

let digitP = 
    let digitP' = parser {
        let! ds = token (many1 (sat Char.IsDigit))
        return  (ds |> cs2s |> Int32.Parse)
    }
    chainl1 digitP' sumP
    <|> digitP'

let funLangP = parser {
    let! f = funP
    let! ident = identP
    let! d = digitP
    return f(ident, d)
}

let finalLangP = sepby1 funLangP (symb [';'])

Do you remember the runParser function? We can update it to use the apply parser (so white space in the beginning of the string is taken care of), and test our final parser:

 let runParser p = 
    s2cs >>
    apply p >>
    function
        | [] -> failwith "Error parsing string"
        | (result,_)::_ -> result

 let doesItReallyWork () = 
    " fun x=99+ 1; 
 fun z = 9 + 1 + 2 + 3; 
 fun w = 57"
    |> runParser finalLangP

> doesItReallyWork ();;

val it : FunAST list = [Fun ('x', 100); Fun ('z', 15); Fun ('w', 57)]

Success!!!

Wrapping up

We learned that, by moving the handcrafted parsers we built in part 1 to using Computation Expressions, we were able to build parsers in a more succinct and expressive way, thanks to the syntax sugar provided by F#. Using this new trick, we ported all parser combinators in Erik/Graham's paper from Haskell to F#, creating a basic set of general purpose parsers.

We are now ready to move to our next challenge: build the JSON parser (finally!). Enough of the good-for-nothing fun language – I hope it did serve its purpose though.

See you next and let me know your comments!

Parsing JSON the fun way series

• Part 1: Building a parser from scratch with Dr. Seuss help (part 1)
• Part 2: Tricking you into Parser Monads (it's not going to hurt, I promise)
• Part 3: The JSON Parser Monad

namespace System

val s2cs : (seq<'a> -> 'a list)

Full name: FunLang02.s2cs

Multiple items
module List

from Microsoft.FSharp.Collections

--------------------

type List<'T> =
  | ( [] )
  | ( :: ) of 'T * 'T list
  with
    interface Collections.IEnumerable
    interface Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<'T>
    member Head : 'T
    member IsEmpty : bool
    member Item : index:int -> 'T with get
    member Length : int
    member Tail : 'T list
    static member Cons : head:'T * tail:'T list -> 'T list
    static member Empty : 'T list
  end

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.List<_>

  type: List<'T>
  implements: Collections.IStructuralEquatable
  implements: IComparable<List<'T>>
  implements: IComparable
  implements: Collections.IStructuralComparable
  implements: Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<'T>
  implements: Collections.IEnumerable

val ofSeq : seq<'T> -> 'T list

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.List.ofSeq

val cs2s : char list -> String

Full name: FunLang02.cs2s

val cs : char list

  type: char list
  implements: Collections.IStructuralEquatable
  implements: IComparable<List<char>>
  implements: IComparable
  implements: Collections.IStructuralComparable
  implements: Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<char>
  implements: Collections.IEnumerable

type String =
  class
    new : char -> string
    new : char * int * int -> string
    new : System.SByte -> string
    new : System.SByte * int * int -> string
    new : System.SByte * int * int * System.Text.Encoding -> string
    new : char [] * int * int -> string
    new : char [] -> string
    new : char * int -> string
    member Chars : int -> char
    member Clone : unit -> obj
    member CompareTo : obj -> int
    member CompareTo : string -> int
    member Contains : string -> bool
    member CopyTo : int * char [] * int * int -> unit
    member EndsWith : string -> bool
    member EndsWith : string * System.StringComparison -> bool
    member EndsWith : string * bool * System.Globalization.CultureInfo -> bool
    member Equals : obj -> bool
    member Equals : string -> bool
    member Equals : string * System.StringComparison -> bool
    member GetEnumerator : unit -> System.CharEnumerator
    member GetHashCode : unit -> int
    member GetTypeCode : unit -> System.TypeCode
    member IndexOf : char -> int
    member IndexOf : string -> int
    member IndexOf : char * int -> int
    member IndexOf : string * int -> int
    member IndexOf : string * System.StringComparison -> int
    member IndexOf : char * int * int -> int
    member IndexOf : string * int * int -> int
    member IndexOf : string * int * System.StringComparison -> int
    member IndexOf : string * int * int * System.StringComparison -> int
    member IndexOfAny : char [] -> int
    member IndexOfAny : char [] * int -> int
    member IndexOfAny : char [] * int * int -> int
    member Insert : int * string -> string
    member IsNormalized : unit -> bool
    member IsNormalized : System.Text.NormalizationForm -> bool
    member LastIndexOf : char -> int
    member LastIndexOf : string -> int
    member LastIndexOf : char * int -> int
    member LastIndexOf : string * int -> int
    member LastIndexOf : string * System.StringComparison -> int
    member LastIndexOf : char * int * int -> int
    member LastIndexOf : string * int * int -> int
    member LastIndexOf : string * int * System.StringComparison -> int
    member LastIndexOf : string * int * int * System.StringComparison -> int
    member LastIndexOfAny : char [] -> int
    member LastIndexOfAny : char [] * int -> int
    member LastIndexOfAny : char [] * int * int -> int
    member Length : int
    member Normalize : unit -> string
    member Normalize : System.Text.NormalizationForm -> string
    member PadLeft : int -> string
    member PadLeft : int * char -> string
    member PadRight : int -> string
    member PadRight : int * char -> string
    member Remove : int -> string
    member Remove : int * int -> string
    member Replace : char * char -> string
    member Replace : string * string -> string
    member Split : char [] -> string []
    member Split : char [] * int -> string []
    member Split : char [] * System.StringSplitOptions -> string []
    member Split : string [] * System.StringSplitOptions -> string []
    member Split : char [] * int * System.StringSplitOptions -> string []
    member Split : string [] * int * System.StringSplitOptions -> string []
    member StartsWith : string -> bool
    member StartsWith : string * System.StringComparison -> bool
    member StartsWith : string * bool * System.Globalization.CultureInfo -> bool
    member Substring : int -> string
    member Substring : int * int -> string
    member ToCharArray : unit -> char []
    member ToCharArray : int * int -> char []
    member ToLower : unit -> string
    member ToLower : System.Globalization.CultureInfo -> string
    member ToLowerInvariant : unit -> string
    member ToString : unit -> string
    member ToString : System.IFormatProvider -> string
    member ToUpper : unit -> string
    member ToUpper : System.Globalization.CultureInfo -> string
    member ToUpperInvariant : unit -> string
    member Trim : unit -> string
    member Trim : char [] -> string
    member TrimEnd : char [] -> string
    member TrimStart : char [] -> string
    static val Empty : string
    static member Compare : string * string -> int
    static member Compare : string * string * bool -> int
    static member Compare : string * string * System.StringComparison -> int
    static member Compare : string * string * System.Globalization.CultureInfo * System.Globalization.CompareOptions -> int
    static member Compare : string * string * bool * System.Globalization.CultureInfo -> int
    static member Compare : string * int * string * int * int -> int
    static member Compare : string * int * string * int * int * bool -> int
    static member Compare : string * int * string * int * int * System.StringComparison -> int
    static member Compare : string * int * string * int * int * bool * System.Globalization.CultureInfo -> int
    static member Compare : string * int * string * int * int * System.Globalization.CultureInfo * System.Globalization.CompareOptions -> int
    static member CompareOrdinal : string * string -> int
    static member CompareOrdinal : string * int * string * int * int -> int
    static member Concat : obj -> string
    static member Concat : obj [] -> string
    static member Concat<'T> : System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<'T> -> string
    static member Concat : System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<string> -> string
    static member Concat : string [] -> string
    static member Concat : obj * obj -> string
    static member Concat : string * string -> string
    static member Concat : obj * obj * obj -> string
    static member Concat : string * string * string -> string
    static member Concat : obj * obj * obj * obj -> string
    static member Concat : string * string * string * string -> string
    static member Copy : string -> string
    static member Equals : string * string -> bool
    static member Equals : string * string * System.StringComparison -> bool
    static member Format : string * obj -> string
    static member Format : string * obj [] -> string
    static member Format : string * obj * obj -> string
    static member Format : System.IFormatProvider * string * obj [] -> string
    static member Format : string * obj * obj * obj -> string
    static member Intern : string -> string
    static member IsInterned : string -> string
    static member IsNullOrEmpty : string -> bool
    static member IsNullOrWhiteSpace : string -> bool
    static member Join : string * string [] -> string
    static member Join : string * obj [] -> string
    static member Join<'T> : string * System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<'T> -> string
    static member Join : string * System.Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<string> -> string
    static member Join : string * string [] * int * int -> string
  end

Full name: System.String

  type: String
  implements: IComparable
  implements: ICloneable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IComparable<string>
  implements: seq<char>
  implements: Collections.IEnumerable
  implements: IEquatable<string>

type Array =
  class
    member Clone : unit -> obj
    member CopyTo : System.Array * int -> unit
    member CopyTo : System.Array * int64 -> unit
    member GetEnumerator : unit -> System.Collections.IEnumerator
    member GetLength : int -> int
    member GetLongLength : int -> int64
    member GetLowerBound : int -> int
    member GetUpperBound : int -> int
    member GetValue : int [] -> obj
    member GetValue : int -> obj
    member GetValue : int64 -> obj
    member GetValue : int64 [] -> obj
    member GetValue : int * int -> obj
    member GetValue : int64 * int64 -> obj
    member GetValue : int * int * int -> obj
    member GetValue : int64 * int64 * int64 -> obj
    member Initialize : unit -> unit
    member IsFixedSize : bool
    member IsReadOnly : bool
    member IsSynchronized : bool
    member Length : int
    member LongLength : int64
    member Rank : int
    member SetValue : obj * int -> unit
    member SetValue : obj * int [] -> unit
    member SetValue : obj * int64 -> unit
    member SetValue : obj * int64 [] -> unit
    member SetValue : obj * int * int -> unit
    member SetValue : obj * int64 * int64 -> unit
    member SetValue : obj * int * int * int -> unit
    member SetValue : obj * int64 * int64 * int64 -> unit
    member SyncRoot : obj
    static member AsReadOnly<'T> : 'T [] -> System.Collections.ObjectModel.ReadOnlyCollection<'T>
    static member BinarySearch : System.Array * obj -> int
    static member BinarySearch<'T> : 'T [] * 'T -> int
    static member BinarySearch : System.Array * obj * System.Collections.IComparer -> int
    static member BinarySearch<'T> : 'T [] * 'T * System.Collections.Generic.IComparer<'T> -> int
    static member BinarySearch : System.Array * int * int * obj -> int
    static member BinarySearch<'T> : 'T [] * int * int * 'T -> int
    static member BinarySearch : System.Array * int * int * obj * System.Collections.IComparer -> int
    static member BinarySearch<'T> : 'T [] * int * int * 'T * System.Collections.Generic.IComparer<'T> -> int
    static member Clear : System.Array * int * int -> unit
    static member ConstrainedCopy : System.Array * int * System.Array * int * int -> unit
    static member ConvertAll<'TInput,'TOutput> : 'TInput [] * System.Converter<'TInput,'TOutput> -> 'TOutput []
    static member Copy : System.Array * System.Array * int -> unit
    static member Copy : System.Array * System.Array * int64 -> unit
    static member Copy : System.Array * int * System.Array * int * int -> unit
    static member Copy : System.Array * int64 * System.Array * int64 * int64 -> unit
    static member CreateInstance : System.Type * int -> System.Array
    static member CreateInstance : System.Type * int [] -> System.Array
    static member CreateInstance : System.Type * int64 [] -> System.Array
    static member CreateInstance : System.Type * int * int -> System.Array
    static member CreateInstance : System.Type * int [] * int [] -> System.Array
    static member CreateInstance : System.Type * int * int * int -> System.Array
    static member Exists<'T> : 'T [] * System.Predicate<'T> -> bool
    static member Find<'T> : 'T [] * System.Predicate<'T> -> 'T
    static member FindAll<'T> : 'T [] * System.Predicate<'T> -> 'T []
    static member FindIndex<'T> : 'T [] * System.Predicate<'T> -> int
    static member FindIndex<'T> : 'T [] * int * System.Predicate<'T> -> int
    static member FindIndex<'T> : 'T [] * int * int * System.Predicate<'T> -> int
    static member FindLast<'T> : 'T [] * System.Predicate<'T> -> 'T
    static member FindLastIndex<'T> : 'T [] * System.Predicate<'T> -> int
    static member FindLastIndex<'T> : 'T [] * int * System.Predicate<'T> -> int
    static member FindLastIndex<'T> : 'T [] * int * int * System.Predicate<'T> -> int
    static member ForEach<'T> : 'T [] * System.Action<'T> -> unit
    static member IndexOf : System.Array * obj -> int
    static member IndexOf<'T> : 'T [] * 'T -> int
    static member IndexOf : System.Array * obj * int -> int
    static member IndexOf<'T> : 'T [] * 'T * int -> int
    static member IndexOf : System.Array * obj * int * int -> int
    static member IndexOf<'T> : 'T [] * 'T * int * int -> int
    static member LastIndexOf : System.Array * obj -> int
    static member LastIndexOf<'T> : 'T [] * 'T -> int
    static member LastIndexOf : System.Array * obj * int -> int
    static member LastIndexOf<'T> : 'T [] * 'T * int -> int
    static member LastIndexOf : System.Array * obj * int * int -> int
    static member LastIndexOf<'T> : 'T [] * 'T * int * int -> int
    static member Resize<'T> : 'T [] * int -> unit
    static member Reverse : System.Array -> unit
    static member Reverse : System.Array * int * int -> unit
    static member Sort : System.Array -> unit
    static member Sort<'T> : 'T [] -> unit
    static member Sort : System.Array * System.Array -> unit
    static member Sort : System.Array * System.Collections.IComparer -> unit
    static member Sort<'TKey,'TValue> : 'TKey [] * 'TValue [] -> unit
    static member Sort<'T> : 'T [] * System.Collections.Generic.IComparer<'T> -> unit
    static member Sort<'T> : 'T [] * System.Comparison<'T> -> unit
    static member Sort : System.Array * int * int -> unit
    static member Sort : System.Array * System.Array * System.Collections.IComparer -> unit
    static member Sort<'T> : 'T [] * int * int -> unit
    static member Sort<'TKey,'TValue> : 'TKey [] * 'TValue [] * System.Collections.Generic.IComparer<'TKey> -> unit
    static member Sort : System.Array * System.Array * int * int -> unit
    static member Sort : System.Array * int * int * System.Collections.IComparer -> unit
    static member Sort<'TKey,'TValue> : 'TKey [] * 'TValue [] * int * int -> unit
    static member Sort<'T> : 'T [] * int * int * System.Collections.Generic.IComparer<'T> -> unit
    static member Sort : System.Array * System.Array * int * int * System.Collections.IComparer -> unit
    static member Sort<'TKey,'TValue> : 'TKey [] * 'TValue [] * int * int * System.Collections.Generic.IComparer<'TKey> -> unit
    static member TrueForAll<'T> : 'T [] * System.Predicate<'T> -> bool
  end

Full name: System.Array

  type: Array
  implements: ICloneable
  implements: Collections.IList
  implements: Collections.ICollection
  implements: Collections.IEnumerable
  implements: Collections.IStructuralComparable
  implements: Collections.IStructuralEquatable

val ofList : 'T list -> 'T []

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.Array.ofList

Multiple items
union case Parser.Parser: (char list -> ('a * char list) list) -> 'a Parser

--------------------

type 'a Parser = | Parser of (char list -> ('a * char list) list)

Full name: FunLang02.Parser<_>

Multiple items
val char : 'T -> char (requires member op_Explicit)

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Core.Operators.char

--------------------

type char = Char

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Core.char

  type: char
  implements: IComparable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IComparable<char>
  implements: IEquatable<char>
  inherits: ValueType

type 'T list = List<'T>

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.list<_>

  type: 'T list
  implements: Collections.IStructuralEquatable
  implements: IComparable<List<'T>>
  implements: IComparable
  implements: Collections.IStructuralComparable
  implements: Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<'T>
  implements: Collections.IEnumerable

val cParser : 'a list -> ('a * 'a list) list

Full name: FunLang02.cParser

val c : 'a

val cs : 'a list

  type: 'a list
  implements: Collections.IStructuralEquatable
  implements: IComparable<List<'a>>
  implements: IComparable
  implements: Collections.IStructuralComparable
  implements: Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<'a>
  implements: Collections.IEnumerable

val item : char Parser

Full name: FunLang02.item

val c : char

  type: char
  implements: IComparable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IComparable<char>
  implements: IEquatable<char>
  inherits: ValueType

val parse : 'a Parser -> (char list -> ('a * char list) list)

Full name: FunLang02.parse

val p : (char list -> ('a * char list) list)

val returnParser : 'a -> 'b -> ('a * 'b) list

Full name: FunLang02.returnParser

val thing : 'a

val cs : 'b

val zeroParser : unit -> 'a -> 'b list

Full name: FunLang02.zeroParser

val bindParser : (char list -> ('a * char list) list) * ('a -> char list -> ('b * char list) list) -> char list -> ('b * char list) list

Full name: FunLang02.bindParser

val f : ('a -> char list -> ('b * char list) list)

val c' : 'a

val cs' : char list

val returnParser' : 'a -> 'a Parser

Full name: FunLang02.returnParser'

val zeroParser' : unit -> 'a Parser

Full name: FunLang02.zeroParser'

val bindParser' : 'a Parser * ('a -> 'b Parser) -> 'b Parser

Full name: FunLang02.bindParser'

val p : 'a Parser

val f : ('a -> 'b Parser)

type ParserBuilder =
  class
    new : unit -> ParserBuilder
    member Bind : p:'c Parser * f:('c -> 'd Parser) -> 'd Parser
    member Return : a:'e -> 'e Parser
    member ReturnFrom : a:'a -> 'a
    member Zero : unit -> 'b Parser
  end

Full name: FunLang02.ParserBuilder

val x : ParserBuilder

member ParserBuilder.Return : a:'e -> 'e Parser

Full name: FunLang02.ParserBuilder.Return

val a : 'e

member ParserBuilder.Bind : p:'c Parser * f:('c -> 'd Parser) -> 'd Parser

Full name: FunLang02.ParserBuilder.Bind

val p : 'c Parser

val f : ('c -> 'd Parser)

val c' : 'c

member ParserBuilder.Zero : unit -> 'b Parser

Full name: FunLang02.ParserBuilder.Zero

member ParserBuilder.ReturnFrom : a:'a -> 'a

Full name: FunLang02.ParserBuilder.ReturnFrom

val a : 'a

val parser : ParserBuilder

Full name: FunLang02.parser

val satisfyParser : (char -> bool) -> (char list -> (char * char list) list)

Full name: FunLang02.satisfyParser

val pred : (char -> bool)

val tcParser : char -> (char list -> (char * char list) list)

Full name: FunLang02.tcParser

val satisfyParser' : (char -> bool) -> char Parser

Full name: FunLang02.satisfyParser'

member ParserBuilder.Bind : p:'c Parser * f:('c -> 'd Parser) -> 'd Parser

member ParserBuilder.Return : a:'e -> 'e Parser

member ParserBuilder.Zero : unit -> 'b Parser

val tcParser' : char -> char Parser

Full name: FunLang02.tcParser'

val sat : (char -> bool) -> char Parser

Full name: FunLang02.sat

val tChar : char -> char Parser

Full name: FunLang02.tChar

val q : 'a Parser

val x : 'a * char list

val xs : ('a * char list) list

  type: ('a * char list) list
  implements: Collections.IStructuralEquatable
  implements: IComparable<List<'a * char list>>
  implements: IComparable
  implements: Collections.IStructuralComparable
  implements: Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<'a * char list>
  implements: Collections.IEnumerable

val text : char list -> char list Parser

Full name: FunLang02.text

Given a char list, returns a parser that parsers it

val many : 'a Parser -> 'a list Parser

Full name: FunLang02.many

Combines many (0 or more) applications of parser p

val many1 : 'a Parser -> 'a list Parser

Full name: FunLang02.many1

Combines at least one (1 or more) applications of parser p

val r : 'a

val rs : 'a list

val sepby : 'a Parser -> 'b Parser -> 'a list Parser

Full name: FunLang02.sepby

Combines 0 or more applications of parser p separated by parser sep

val sep : 'b Parser

val sepby1 : 'a Parser -> 'b Parser -> 'a list Parser

Full name: FunLang02.sepby1

Combines 1 or more applications of parser p separated by parser sep

val chainl : 'a Parser -> ('a -> 'a -> 'a) Parser -> 'a -> 'a Parser

Full name: FunLang02.chainl

Chain 0 or more applications of parser p separated by applications of parser op

val op : ('a -> 'a -> 'a) Parser

val chainl1 : 'a Parser -> ('a -> 'a -> 'a) Parser -> 'a Parser

Full name: FunLang02.chainl1

Chain 1 or more applications of parser p separated by applications of parser op

val rest : ('a -> 'a Parser)

val f : ('a -> 'a -> 'a)

val r' : 'a

type FunAST = | Fun of (char * int)

Full name: FunLang02.FunAST

  type: FunAST
  implements: IEquatable<FunAST>
  implements: Collections.IStructuralEquatable
  implements: IComparable<FunAST>
  implements: IComparable
  implements: Collections.IStructuralComparable

union case FunAST.Fun: char * int -> FunAST

Multiple items
val int : 'T -> int (requires member op_Explicit)

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Core.Operators.int

--------------------

type int<'Measure> = int

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Core.int<_>

  type: int<'Measure>
  implements: IComparable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IFormattable
  implements: IComparable<int<'Measure>>
  implements: IEquatable<int<'Measure>>
  inherits: ValueType

--------------------

type int = int32

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Core.int

  type: int
  implements: IComparable
  implements: IFormattable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IComparable<int>
  implements: IEquatable<int>
  inherits: ValueType

val funParser : (char * int -> FunAST) Parser

Full name: FunLang02.funParser

val identParser : char Parser

Full name: FunLang02.identParser

val ident : char

  type: char
  implements: IComparable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IComparable<char>
  implements: IEquatable<char>
  inherits: ValueType

val digitParser : int Parser

Full name: FunLang02.digitParser

val d : char

  type: char
  implements: IComparable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IComparable<char>
  implements: IEquatable<char>
  inherits: ValueType

type Char =
  struct
    member CompareTo : obj -> int
    member CompareTo : char -> int
    member Equals : obj -> bool
    member Equals : char -> bool
    member GetHashCode : unit -> int
    member GetTypeCode : unit -> System.TypeCode
    member ToString : unit -> string
    member ToString : System.IFormatProvider -> string
    static val MaxValue : char
    static val MinValue : char
    static member ConvertFromUtf32 : int -> string
    static member ConvertToUtf32 : char * char -> int
    static member ConvertToUtf32 : string * int -> int
    static member GetNumericValue : char -> float
    static member GetNumericValue : string * int -> float
    static member GetUnicodeCategory : char -> System.Globalization.UnicodeCategory
    static member GetUnicodeCategory : string * int -> System.Globalization.UnicodeCategory
    static member IsControl : char -> bool
    static member IsControl : string * int -> bool
    static member IsDigit : char -> bool
    static member IsDigit : string * int -> bool
    static member IsHighSurrogate : char -> bool
    static member IsHighSurrogate : string * int -> bool
    static member IsLetter : char -> bool
    static member IsLetter : string * int -> bool
    static member IsLetterOrDigit : char -> bool
    static member IsLetterOrDigit : string * int -> bool
    static member IsLowSurrogate : char -> bool
    static member IsLowSurrogate : string * int -> bool
    static member IsLower : char -> bool
    static member IsLower : string * int -> bool
    static member IsNumber : char -> bool
    static member IsNumber : string * int -> bool
    static member IsPunctuation : char -> bool
    static member IsPunctuation : string * int -> bool
    static member IsSeparator : char -> bool
    static member IsSeparator : string * int -> bool
    static member IsSurrogate : char -> bool
    static member IsSurrogate : string * int -> bool
    static member IsSurrogatePair : string * int -> bool
    static member IsSurrogatePair : char * char -> bool
    static member IsSymbol : char -> bool
    static member IsSymbol : string * int -> bool
    static member IsUpper : char -> bool
    static member IsUpper : string * int -> bool
    static member IsWhiteSpace : char -> bool
    static member IsWhiteSpace : string * int -> bool
    static member Parse : string -> char
    static member ToLower : char -> char
    static member ToLower : char * System.Globalization.CultureInfo -> char
    static member ToLowerInvariant : char -> char
    static member ToString : char -> string
    static member ToUpper : char -> char
    static member ToUpper : char * System.Globalization.CultureInfo -> char
    static member ToUpperInvariant : char -> char
    static member TryParse : string * char -> bool
  end

Full name: System.Char

  type: Char
  implements: IComparable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IComparable<char>
  implements: IEquatable<char>
  inherits: ValueType

Multiple overloads
Char.IsDigit(c: char) : bool
Char.IsDigit(s: string, index: int) : bool

Multiple items
val string : 'T -> string

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Core.Operators.string

--------------------

type string = String

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Core.string

  type: string
  implements: IComparable
  implements: ICloneable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IComparable<string>
  implements: seq<char>
  implements: Collections.IEnumerable
  implements: IEquatable<string>

type Int32 =
  struct
    member CompareTo : obj -> int
    member CompareTo : int -> int
    member Equals : obj -> bool
    member Equals : int -> bool
    member GetHashCode : unit -> int
    member GetTypeCode : unit -> System.TypeCode
    member ToString : unit -> string
    member ToString : string -> string
    member ToString : System.IFormatProvider -> string
    member ToString : string * System.IFormatProvider -> string
    static val MaxValue : int
    static val MinValue : int
    static member Parse : string -> int
    static member Parse : string * System.Globalization.NumberStyles -> int
    static member Parse : string * System.IFormatProvider -> int
    static member Parse : string * System.Globalization.NumberStyles * System.IFormatProvider -> int
    static member TryParse : string * int -> bool
    static member TryParse : string * System.Globalization.NumberStyles * System.IFormatProvider * int -> bool
  end

Full name: System.Int32

  type: Int32
  implements: IComparable
  implements: IFormattable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IComparable<int>
  implements: IEquatable<int>
  inherits: ValueType

Multiple overloads
Int32.Parse(s: string) : int
Int32.Parse(s: string, provider: IFormatProvider) : int
Int32.Parse(s: string, style: Globalization.NumberStyles) : int
Int32.Parse(s: string, style: Globalization.NumberStyles, provider: IFormatProvider) : int

val equalParser : char Parser

Full name: FunLang02.equalParser

val funLangParser : FunAST Parser

Full name: FunLang02.funLangParser

val funFunc : (char * int -> FunAST)

val digit : int

  type: int
  implements: IComparable
  implements: IFormattable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IComparable<int>
  implements: IEquatable<int>
  inherits: ValueType

val sepParser : char Parser

Full name: FunLang02.sepParser

val improvedLangParser : FunAST list Parser

Full name: FunLang02.improvedLangParser

val sumParser : (int -> int -> int) Parser

Full name: FunLang02.sumParser

val digitParser' : int Parser

Full name: FunLang02.digitParser'

val funLangParser' : FunAST Parser

Full name: FunLang02.funLangParser'

val improvedLangParser' : FunAST list Parser

Full name: FunLang02.improvedLangParser'

val isSpace : (char -> bool)

Full name: FunLang02.isSpace

val cs : Set<char>

  type: Set<char>
  implements: IComparable
  implements: Collections.Generic.ICollection<char>
  implements: seq<char>
  implements: Collections.IEnumerable

Multiple items
module Set

from Microsoft.FSharp.Collections

--------------------

type Set<'T (requires comparison)> =
  class
    interface IComparable
    interface Collections.IEnumerable
    interface Collections.Generic.IEnumerable<'T>
    interface Collections.Generic.ICollection<'T>
    new : elements:seq<'T> -> Set<'T>
    member Add : value:'T -> Set<'T>
    member Contains : value:'T -> bool
    override Equals : obj -> bool
    member IsProperSubsetOf : otherSet:Set<'T> -> bool
    member IsProperSupersetOf : otherSet:Set<'T> -> bool
    member IsSubsetOf : otherSet:Set<'T> -> bool
    member IsSupersetOf : otherSet:Set<'T> -> bool
    member Remove : value:'T -> Set<'T>
    member Count : int
    member IsEmpty : bool
    member MaximumElement : 'T
    member MinimumElement : 'T
    static member ( + ) : set1:Set<'T> * set2:Set<'T> -> Set<'T>
    static member ( - ) : set1:Set<'T> * set2:Set<'T> -> Set<'T>
  end

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.Set<_>

  type: Set<'T>
  implements: IComparable
  implements: Collections.Generic.ICollection<'T>
  implements: seq<'T>
  implements: Collections.IEnumerable

val ofList : 'T list -> Set<'T> (requires comparison)

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Collections.Set.ofList

member Set.Contains : value:'T -> bool

val space : char list Parser

Full name: FunLang02.space

val token : 'a Parser -> 'a Parser

Full name: FunLang02.token

val symb : (char list -> char list Parser)

Full name: FunLang02.symb

val apply : 'a Parser -> (char list -> ('a * char list) list)

Full name: FunLang02.apply

val funP : (char * int -> FunAST) Parser

Full name: FunLang02.funP

val identP : char Parser

Full name: FunLang02.identP

val sumP : (int -> int -> int) Parser

Full name: FunLang02.sumP

val digitP : int Parser

Full name: FunLang02.digitP

val digitP' : int Parser

val ds : char list

val funLangP : FunAST Parser

Full name: FunLang02.funLangP

val f : (char * int -> FunAST)

val d : int

  type: int
  implements: IComparable
  implements: IFormattable
  implements: IConvertible
  implements: IComparable<int>
  implements: IEquatable<int>
  inherits: ValueType

val finalLangP : FunAST list Parser

Full name: FunLang02.finalLangP

val runParser : 'a Parser -> (seq<char> -> 'a)

Full name: FunLang02.runParser

val failwith : string -> 'T

Full name: Microsoft.FSharp.Core.Operators.failwith

val result : 'a

val doesItReallyWork : unit -> FunAST list

Full name: FunLang02.doesItReallyWork

Parsing JSON the fun way: monadic parsers, records and type providers (Part 2)

Sugar Love

Let the magic begin

Choice Combinators

Recursion Combinators

Lexical Combinators

Final fun language parser

Wrapping up

Parsing JSON the fun way series

Additional resources