As someone who has 'been there, done that' here is a random collection of tips and advice: - Don't worry about re-inventing wheels---there are never enough wheels and not all of them are round!
- Restrict your input language. In this case I'd suggest PGN (Portable Game Notation) developed by Steven J. Edwards. It is a standard in the chess world and will make you life a lot more fun.
- Resist the notion that you don't need to 'play' the game you are parsing.
- Do the easy stuff first.
- Find someone to ask stupid questions of. PM is good for overall stuff. Idiots like me for chess parsing. Experts like Gmax for the rest.
- Regress. Then do it again! I know of no better task than parsing to implement the pragmatic approach to testing. In a as yet unpublished English to algebraic translator, the testbase includes 3000 games with known results to test against. Every time I think I'm safe---things go south and I'm back to testing. You are never safe---test always!
- Remember, Free Advice---and to paraphrase Curtis Mathis, darn well worth it!
--hsm
"Never try to teach a pig to sing...it wastes your time and it annoys the pig."
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