We present an approach to context-free parsing which builds up a meta-theory from scratch on this subject. From this meta-theory one can derive any parsing algorithm known to the author (among many others, e.g. Earley's, Tomita's, LL, LR(k) etc.) in a constructive way as well as new algorithms having promising properties. Conclusions from this theory are not only, that all algorithms stem from a
... [Show full abstract] single source regardless of the way they have been originally invented, but also open a way to derive specialized algorithms suited for particular demands in practice. This paper is an informal introduction to a theory treated in much more detail in [STin]. Formalizations, proofs and detailed discussions can be found there. Because of limited space we can present only some underlying ideas of a theory which unifies all context-free parsing techniques known to the author. We hope to convince the reader that practically all known parsing algorithms stem from a single source. This claim does appl...