Re: Redoing the current tag/property parser in a real grammar [was: Re: [RFC] Quoting property names in tag/property matches]

[Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@posteo.net>]

Jens Schmidt <jschmidt4gnu@vodafonemail.de> writes:

>> Backward compatibility will be easy - just leave the current code when
>> old query version is detected. We should better focus on the new syntax
>> in future and leave the current syntax as compatibility layer that will
>> be eventually deprecated.
>
> Agreed except for the deprecation part.  I think Org should be big enough
> to have two parsers: One along the lines of the current one (infix, DWIM,
> easy to type) and one along the lines of org-ql (sexp, better extensible,
> more flexible, harder to type).  Ideally, it should be even possible to
> embed the infix-one into the sexp-one.

Maybe. The rough idea is to allow pluggable query syntax, so that people
can implement they own, if they wish to.

> It should also be possible to put the current infix parser onto a more
> stable ground as well, based on a formal grammar, providing at least
> parentheses for grouping and negation, and that without breaking backward
> compatibility.
>
> Let's rephrase that way: If I were to redo the current parser as
> mentioned in the previous paragraph, would these changes "eventually be
> deprecated"?  (Which doesn't necessarily mean that I promise to do so,
> of course.)

I am not sure if we need to hold to the current syntax. I am leaning
towards something more similar to notmuch/"export" web search queries.

In any case, deprecation is years away, and we will have plenty of time
discussing the specifics.

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
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