| Usually the first step in designing a parser is to think of some sample strings that you want your parser to recognize. To parse this set of strings, you will create a new language. A language is always a set of strings, and your language will become a set that includes your sample strings. You can begin to design your parser by writing the rules, or grammar, of your language. (Section 3.4, "Grammars: A Shorthand for Parsers," explains how to write your grammar.) Your parser will recognize strings that follow the rules of your grammar. Once you have a grammar, you can write the Java code for your parser as a direct translation of the grammar rules. The other main aspect of a parser's design is the design of your assemblers. Assemblers let you create a new object when your parser recognizes an input string. After you have designed your assemblers and your rules, you bring them together. You plug assemblers in to subparsers to assemble parts of a target object as your parser recognizes text. It is a good idea to work incrementally and iteratively. When you work incrementally, you get part of your language to work before the entire language works. Working iteratively means that you can expect to cycle through the steps of designing, coding, and testing many times on each increment you create. Build your language gradually, expanding your parser and adding new features as you go. You will see your language grow, and you will become skillful in expanding the features of your language. | 
