Benchmarks

Because cflp is for parsing a context-free language from a token stream into an AST, we have two primary aims:

1. Correctness
   The derived Parser impls must be correct. This is a simple pass/fail aim
2. Speed
   The derived Parser impls must be as fast as then can be made

To compare the speed of the derived impls, we use criterion v0.4.0 and two benchmark groups; a simple and complex benchmark.

Simple benchmark

Benchmark | Handwritten | Derived

The simple benchmark doesn't use wrapping and uses fairly simple rules. This is used to check that the derived impl is fast in a base case. It is also useful as a base benchmark to compare with other benchmarks to remove some variability from test-to-test.

Complex benchmark

Benchmark | Handwritten | Derived

The complex benchmark uses wrapping (NodeWrapper) with repeating sections and boxed matches. This is used to compare a handwritten impl against a derived one. Ideally, the derived impl would be as good as the handwritten one, but this is not true as of writing.

Comparing results

The results are used to compare the efficiency of the derived impls relative to the handwritten ones. Benchmarks are not intended to be used to compare absolute times.

As a note, all of the files generated by criterion are available under the criterion path of this book (https://fck-language.github.io/cflp/bench)