> If OP wants sexprs, they can get quick-and-dirty sexprs by: You know what it takes to implement a parser for s expressions? E := atom | '(' *E ')' With ato

> If OP wants sexprs, they can get quick-and-dirty sexprs by: You know what it takes to implement a parser for s expressions? E := atom | '(' *E ')' With atom expanding to all data types you wish to support. Let's presume using a parser generator is an insurmountable task for someone developing a parser. In a hand-rolled packrat parser, this whole grammar is implemented with a couple of functions. Is writing two functions too much work for someone wanting to write their own parser? Your ad-hoc trick is much more work than actually implementing a proper, maintainable parser.