Two Algorithms, One Intuition: Shunting Yard and Pratt Parsing

Two Algorithms, One Intuition: Shunting Yard and Pratt Parsing

Parsing arithmetic expressions looks simple… until precedence enters the picture. Two classic algorithms — Dijkstra’s Shunting Yard and Pratt’s Top-Down Operator Precedence — provide radically different answers that reveal the same underlying intuition.

February 17, 2026 · 12 min