// okay to copy/adapt

// can test this by itself!
void _append_element(Node** a_head, Node** a_tail, Element element) {
    // standard append function
}

bool parse_list(Node** a_head, char const** a_pos) {
    Node* head = NULL;
    Node* tail = NULL;
    // check for '['
    
    // find a valid element using parse_element
    // find a valid ','
    // no second element, no ']'
    if (some condition that makes the list invalid) {
        // you can use free element to free up the list
        Element list_element = {.type = ELEMENT_LIST, .as_list = head};
        free_element(list_element);
        return false;
    }
    // other stuff that makes the list valid instead

    // check for ']'
    *a_head = head;
    return true;

}