private void consume(){
  curCharIndex++;
  curChar=(curCharIndex == pattern.length()) ? EOF : pattern.charAt(curCharIndex);
}

private void consume ( ) { curCharIndex ++ ; curChar = ( curCharIndex == pattern . length ( ) ) ? EOF : pattern . charAt ( curCharIndex ) ; }
advances the current character position without any error checking . consuming beyond the end of the string can only happen if this parser contains a bug .
