PARSING

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PARSING

In the design of a compiler the second stage

after lexical analysis is parsing. It is also called
as syntax analysis.
Parser will take the stream of tokens
generated by the lexical analyzer , check if it
is grammatically correct and generate a parse
tree.
The fundamental theory behind parsing is
grammar theory.

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CONTEXT FREE GRAMMAR

A CFG, G=(N, T, P, S) where:

N is a set of non-terminals.
T is a set of terminals.
P is a set of productions (or rules) which are given
by
A->
where A denotes a single non-terminal.
denotes a set of terminals and non-
terminals.
S is the start state. If not specified, then it is the
non-terminal that appears on the left-hand side of
the first production.

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Parse trees

Parse trees are labeled trees characterized by

the following:
The root is labeled by the start symbol.
Each leaf is labeled by a token or !.
Each interior node is labeled by a non-
terminal.
If A is the non-terminal labeling some interior
node and X1, X2, , Xn are the labels of the
children of that node from left to right, then
A ::= X1, X2, , Xn
is a production in the grammar.

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AMBIGUITY AND UNAMBIGUITY :
A word is said to be ambiguously derivable
if there are more than one derivations
existing for the word, that is if there are
more than one distinct parse tree generated
for that word.
There are two kinds of derivations that are
important.
A derivation is a leftmost derivation if it is
always the leftmost non-terminal that is chosen to
be replaced.
It is a rightmost derivation if it is always the
rightmost one.

Ambiguity is considered only when words are

derived using the same kind of derivation.
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AMBIGUITY AND UNAMBIGUITY
Agrammar is said to be ambiguous if there
exists at least one word which is ambiguously
derivable.

A
grammar is said to be unambiguous if all the
words derived from it are unambiguous.

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 A language L is said to be unambiguous if
there exists at least one grammar which is
unambiguous.
A language L is said to be ambiguous if all
the grammar of the language are ambiguous.

Programming language grammars must be

unambiguous.

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BOOLEAN EXPRESSIONS
The language of Boolean expressions can be
defined in
English as follows:
true is a Boolean expression.
false is a Boolean expression.
If exp1 and exp2 are Boolean expressions, then so
are the following:
expression1 OR expression2
Low2
expression1 AND expression ||
NOT expression1 Higher &&
( expression1 ) Highest !

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Consider this simple CFG:
bexp TRUE
bexp FALSE
bexp bexp || bexp
bexp bexp && bexp
bexp ! bexp
bexp ( bexp )

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CONTEXT FREE GRAMMAR FOR
BOOLEAN EXPRESSIONS
Consider the following short hand form of the
CFG
for Boolean expressions:
E E && E
E E || E
E ! E
E (E)
E t
E f
E is a non-terminal and the start symbol.
&&, ||, !, (, ), t and f are terminals.

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Here are two different (leftmost
derivations).
The first one, corresponding to the first
tree:
E => E && E
=> E && E && E
=> t && E && E
=> t && t && E
=> t && t && t
The second one, corresponding to the
second tree:
E => E && E
=> t && E
=> t && E && E
=> t && t && E
=> t && t && t
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 A CFG is ambiguous if at least one word in the described
language has more than one parse tree.

E E

E && E E && E

E && E
E && E t t

t t
t t

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 We construct an unambiguous version of the
context-free grammar for Boolean expressions by
making it reflect the following operator precedence
conventions:
! (NOT) has the highest precedence
&& (AND) has the next highest precedence
|| (OR) has the lowest precedence
For example, t v ~f ^ t should be interpreted as
t v ((~f)^t). As long as the grammar is
unambiguous, you can choose whether or not to
accept expressions that would need conventions
about operator associatively to disambiguate
them, like t ^ t ^ t.

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 Here is a version that assumes that the binary
operators are non- associative.
E E1 || E1
E E1
E1 E2 && E2
E1 E2
E2 ! E2
E2 (E )
E2 t
E2 f
Draw the derivation trees according to your
unambiguous grammar for the following two
expressions:
(i) ! t || f
(ii) (f || t) || ! f && t
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Parse tree for !t v|| E
f:

E1
|| E1

E2
E2

! E2 f

t
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 E
Parse tree for
(f || t) || !f&&t: E E
1 || 1

E2 E2 && E2

( E ) E
! t
2

E E
1 || 1 f

E E
2 2

f t
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ASSOCIATIVITY
The binary operators && and || are be
considered to be left-associative in most
programming languages.
i.e. an expression like t || t || t would be
interpreted as (t || t) || t

Short
Circuit

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Making the production rules for the binary
operators left associatively:
E E || E1
E E1
E1 E1 && E2
E1 E2
E2 !E3
E2 E3
E3 ( E )
E3 T
E3 F
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 E

Parse tree E
E
|| 1
for:
f||f||t
E
E || E1
2

E E E
1 2 3

E E t
2 3

E
3 f

f
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THANK YOU..

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