"python4ply is a Python parser for the Python language. The grammar definition uses PLY, a parser system for Python modelled on yacc/lex. The parser rules use the "compiler" module from the standard library to build a Python AST and to generate byte code for .pyc file.
You might use python4ply to experiment with variations in the Python language. The PLY-based lexer and parser are much easier to change than the C implementation Python itself uses or even the ones written in Python which are part of the standard library. This tutorial walks through examples of how to make changes in different levels of the system."