diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 494728b..ee63622 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -8,3 +8,6 @@ edition = "2021"
 [dependencies]
 num = "0.4"
 clap = { version = "3.1.8", features = ["derive"] }
+chrono = "0.4"
+nom = "7.1.1"
+nom-bufreader = "0.2.0"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 5423c94..f6d5982 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,27 @@ use std::fs::File;
 
 use num::*;
 use clap::Parser;
+use chrono::prelude::*;
+use std::collections::BTreeMap;
+
+use nom_bufreader::bufreader::BufReader;
+use nom_bufreader::{Error, Parse};
+use nom::{
+    branch::alt,
+    bytes::streaming::{tag, take_until, take_while1},
+    character::is_alphanumeric,
+    character::complete::none_of,
+    character::streaming::{
+        space0, alpha1, multispace0,
+        multispace1, digit1, line_ending,
+        alphanumeric1},
+    combinator::map_res,
+    IResult,
+    sequence::{tuple, delimited, terminated, preceded}
+};
+
+// TODO : Remove
+use std::str::from_utf8;
 
 #[derive(Parser)]
 struct Cli {
@@ -12,49 +33,192 @@ struct Cli {
     path: std::path::PathBuf,
 }
 
-struct Timestamp{
-    file_offset: u64,
-    timestamp:   BigInt
+// TODO: implement any timescales greater than a second
+#[derive(Debug)]
+enum Timescale {ps, ns, us, ms, s, unit}
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct Scope_Idx(usize);
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct Signal_Idx(usize);
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct Version(String);
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct Metadata {
+    date      : Option<DateTime<Utc>>,
+    version   : Option<Version>,
+    timescale : (Option<u32>, Timescale)}
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+enum SignalGeneric{
+    Signal{
+        name           : String,
+        timeline       : BTreeMap<BigInt, BigInt>,
+        scope_parent   : Scope_Idx},
+    SignalAlias{
+        name          : String,
+        signal_alias  : Signal_Idx}
 }
 
-fn main() -> std::io::Result<()> {
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct Scope {
+    name          : String,
+    child_signals : Vec<Signal_Idx>,
+    child_scopes  : Vec<Scope_Idx>}
+
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+struct VCD {
+    metadata    : Metadata,
+    all_signals : Vec<SignalGeneric>,
+    // the root scope should always be placed at index 0
+    all_scopes  : Vec<Scope>}
+
+fn date(i: &[u8]) -> IResult<&[u8], DateTime<Utc>, ()> {
+    let (i, _) = tag("$date")(i)?;
+    
+    let (i, _) = multispace1(i)?;
+    let (i, weekday) = alt((
+        tag("Mon"), tag("Tue"), tag("Wed"), tag("Thu"), 
+        tag("Fri"), tag("Sat"), tag("Sun")))(i)?;
+        
+    let (i, _) = multispace1(i)?;
+    let (i, month) = alt((
+        tag("Jan"), tag("Feb"), tag("Mar"), tag("Apr"), 
+        tag("May"), tag("Jun"), tag("July"), tag("Sept"), 
+        tag("Oct"), tag("Nov"), tag("Dec")))(i)?;
+    
+    let (i, _) = multispace1(i)?;
+    let (i, day) = digit1(i)?;
+
+    let (i, _) = multispace1(i)?;
+    let (i, hour) = digit1(i)?;
+
+    let (i, _) = tag(":")(i)?;
+    let (i, minute) = digit1(i)?;
+
+    let (i, _) = tag(":")(i)?;
+    let (i, second) = digit1(i)?;
+
+    let (i, _) = multispace1(i)?;
+    let (i, year) = digit1(i)?;
+
+    let (i, _) = multispace1(i)?;
+    let (i, _) = tag("$end")(i)?;
+
+    let (weekday, month, day, hour, minute, second, year) = (
+        from_utf8(weekday).unwrap(),
+        from_utf8(month).unwrap(),
+        from_utf8(day).unwrap(),
+        from_utf8(hour).unwrap(),
+        from_utf8(minute).unwrap(),
+        from_utf8(second).unwrap(),
+        from_utf8(year).unwrap(),
+    );
+
+    let dt = Utc.datetime_from_str(
+        format!("{weekday} {month} {day} {hour}:{minute}:{second} {year}")
+        .as_str(), "%a %b %e %T %Y")
+        .unwrap();
+    
+    Ok((i, dt))
+    
+}
+
+fn version(i: &[u8]) -> IResult<&[u8], String, ()> {
+    let (i, _) = tag("$version")(i)?;
+    let (mut i, _) = multispace1(i)?;
+
+    let mut version = "".to_string();
+    let mut reached_end = false;
+
+    while (reached_end == false) {
+        let (_i, next_word) = take_while1(
+            |c| 
+                c != 36 && // not $
+                c >= 33 && //  between ! and ~
+                c <= 126
+            )(i)?;
+        i = _i;
+        let next_word      = from_utf8(next_word).unwrap();
+
+        version = format!("{version} {next_word}");
+        let (_i, _) = multispace1(i)?;
+        i = _i;
+
+        match tag::<&str, &[u8], ()>("$end")(i) {
+            Ok((_i, _)) => {
+                i = _i;
+                reached_end = true;
+            }
+            Err(_) => {}
+        };
+
+    }
+
+    // strip the initial space
+    version = version[1..].to_string();
+
+    Ok((i, version))
+        
+}
+
+fn timescale(i: &[u8]) -> IResult<&[u8], (Option<u32>, Timescale), ()> {
+    let (i, _) = tag("$timescale")(i)?;
+    dbg!("here");
+    let (i, _) = multispace1(i)?;
+    
+    let (i, scale) = digit1(i)?;
+    let (i, _) = multispace1(i)?;
+
+    let (i, unit)  = alpha1(i)?;
+    let (i, _) = multispace1(i)?;
+
+    let (i, _) = tag("$end")(i)?;
+
+    let scale = from_utf8(scale).unwrap().to_string();
+    let scale = scale.parse::<u32>().unwrap();
+
+    let unit = match from_utf8(unit).unwrap() {
+        "ps" => Ok(Timescale::ps),
+        "ns" => Ok(Timescale::ns),
+        "us" => Ok(Timescale::us),
+        "ms" => Ok(Timescale::ms),
+        "s"  => Ok(Timescale::s),
+          _  => Err(())
+    }.unwrap();
+
+
+    Ok((i, (Some(scale), unit)))
+        
+}
+
+fn f_multispace0(i: &[u8]) -> IResult<&[u8], (), ()> {
+    let (i, _) = multispace0(i)?;
+    Ok((i, ()))
+}
+
+fn main() -> Result<(), Error<()>> {
     let args = Cli::parse();
 
     let file       = File::open(&args.path)?;
-    let mut reader = io::BufReader::new(file);
+    let mut reader = BufReader::new(file);
 
-    let mut buffer             = String::new();
-    let mut timestamp_offsets  = Vec::new();
-    let mut timestamps         = Vec::new();
+    reader.parse(f_multispace0).unwrap();
+    let date = reader.parse(date).expect("failed to parse date");
 
-    while {
-        let bytes_read = reader.read_line(&mut buffer).unwrap();
-        bytes_read > 0
-    } {
-        if &buffer[0..1] == "#" {
-            let pos = reader.stream_position().unwrap();
-            timestamp_offsets.push(pos);
+    reader.parse(f_multispace0).unwrap();
+    let version = reader.parse(version).expect("failed to parse version");
 
-            let timestamp = {
-                let len = buffer.len();
-                let str_val = &buffer[1..(len - 1)].as_bytes();
-                BigInt::parse_bytes(str_val, 10).unwrap()
-            };
-            timestamps.push(timestamp);
-        }
-        buffer.clear()
-    }
+    reader.parse(f_multispace0).unwrap();
+    let timescale = reader.parse(timescale).expect("failed to parse timescale");
 
-    let index = 4;
-    let timestamp_offset = timestamp_offsets.get(index).unwrap();
-    let timestamp        = timestamps.get(index).unwrap();
-    dbg!((timestamp_offset, timestamp));
-
-    // seek to where we found the first timestamp and read
-    // out the next line
-    reader.seek(io::SeekFrom::Start(*timestamp_offset));
-    reader.read_line(&mut buffer);
-    dbg!(buffer);
+    dbg!(date.to_rfc2822());
+    dbg!(version);
+    dbg!(timescale);
 
     Ok(())
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file