Sparse is a semantic parser of source files: it's neither a compiler
(although it could be used as a front-end for one) nor is it a
preprocessor (although it contains as a part of it a preprocessing
phase).
It is meant to be a small - and simple - library. Scanty and meager,
and partly because of that easy to use. It has one mission in life:
create a semantic parse tree for some arbitrary user for further
analysis. It's not a tokenizer, nor is it some generic context-free
parser. In fact, context (semantics) is what it's all about - figuring
out not just what the grouping of tokens are, but what the _types_ are
that the grouping implies.
Sparse is primarily used in the development and debugging of the Linux kernel.