v0.8.8 — Parser Error Recovery, Formal Grammar, and Machine Legibility Dimensions

RECALL v0.8.8

This release completes the compiler hardening arc that began in v0.8.7 and introduces two new framework documents alongside the language implementation.

Compiler

Parser error recovery — the parser no longer aborts on the first malformed construct. It emits a warning, applies a safe default, and continues. Every error in a program is now reported in a single pass.

RCL-W07 — unknown PIC type. A field declared with an unrecognised PIC type (e.g. PIC CUSTOM) defaults to PIC X and warns. Compilation continues.

RCL-W08 — malformed VALUE clause. A VALUE clause that is not a quoted string is treated as empty and warns. Compilation continues.

ParseWarning channel — parser stays pure. Parse-level warnings are drained into the DiagnosticCollector by the typechecker, keeping the multi-pass pipeline clean.

CheckResult.warningMessages — the check() API now exposes warning messages as a structured string array, matching the shape of errors. Required for programmatic warning-code assertions.

RCL-W01 fix — ITEMS SECTION top-level 01 entries are now marked isGroup: true regardless of child count. Previously, an empty group silently failed to trigger RCL-W01 because isGroup was derived from child count rather than structural position.

Tests

Per-code diagnostic test coverage — 22 dedicated tests, one per diagnostic code. Each test: minimal .rcl fixture that triggers exactly that code, assertion on the exact code in check() output. 9 test files, 99 tests total.

Codes covered: RCL-001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 010, 011, 012, 013, 022, 023 (errors); RCL-W01, W02, W03, W05, W06, W07, W08 (warnings).

Language Specification

RECALL-GRAMMAR.md — full EBNF formal grammar specification. Normative reference: the compiler implements this, not the other way around. Covers all five divisions, lexical conventions, built-in elements table, error recovery, language invariants, and complete diagnostic reference.

Framework Documents

COGNITIVE-DIMENSIONS-ANALYSIS.md — formal analytical evaluation of RECALL v0.8.8 against all 13 dimensions of the Cognitive Dimensions of Notations framework (Green & Petre, 1996). Includes peer comparison with HTML and Markdown, and three design observations not visible from the spec alone.

MACHINE-LEGIBILITY-FRAMEWORK.md — proposed framework (v0.1) for evaluating notations where the primary reader is an AI system. Nine dimensions: Tokenisation Alignment, Ambiguity Surface, State Surface, Schema Availability, Error Signal Fidelity, Intent Density, Round-trip Fidelity, Constraint Completeness, Decomposability. RECALL used as the reference implementation. Companion to Cognitive Dimensions, not a replacement.

CITATION.cff — machine-readable citation metadata. GitHub renders this as a Cite This Repository button with APA, MLA, and BibTeX export.

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RECALL is a COBOL-inspired publishing language for the web. The source is the artifact. Every compiled page embeds its own origin.