[developers] FSPP conventions and PET configuration

[R. Bergmair]

Hi!

Two easy questions:

1. I noticed that when passing input to the LKB-based FSPP
    which contains a literal "&", this is reproduced literally
    within SMAF XML output, which, of course, makes the XML
    non-well-formed. Ann thinks that the convention is to pass
    input to FSPP in XML-escaped form, but wasn't sure. Can
    anyone confirm this?

2. I was wondering how PET interprets the "start-symbols" option,
    and the "-results" and "-nsolutions" options.

    The default in the ERG's "english.set" is as follows:

      start-symbols := $root_strict $root_frag $root_informal $root_inffrag.

    Is this list prioritized in any sense? In the example, are all
    results that match "root_strict" returned BEFORE "root_frag", or
    is the ordering decided strictly by the parse selection module?

    More particularly, I use the command line options

      -results=5 -nsolutions=5

    because I assume that this has the effect of giving me only
    the top five parses, but I've never quite understood the
    difference between the two.

    I'd now like to add "$root_robust" to the "start-symbols" list.
    If I add it at the end of the list, does this mean, that I will
    get additional parses matching this start symbol, where no other
    symbol matches, without compromising the quality of the parses
    I am already getting (without the root_robust)?

Thanks, in advance!

Richard