layout: series_index
title: “Understanding Parser Combinators”

seriesIndexId: “Understanding Parser Combinators”

In this series, we’ll look at how so-called “applicative parsers” work. In order to understand something, there’s nothing
like building it for yourself, and so we’ll create a basic parser library from scratch, then some useful “parser combinators”,
and then finish off by building a complete JSON parser.

• Understanding Parser Combinators. Building a parser combinator library from scratch.
• Building a useful set of parser combinators. 15 or so combinators that can be combined to parse almost anything.
• Improving the parser library. Adding more informative errors.
• Writing a JSON parser from scratch. In 250 lines of code.