Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF
ENGINEERING
COMPUTER SCIENCE
ENGINEERING
Bachelor of Engineering
Theory of Computation (CST-353)

Topic: Context Free Language DISCOVER . LEARN .

EMPOWER
 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Learning Objectives & Outcomes

Objective:
• To understand the concept of CFL, Parse tree.

Outcome:
• Student will understand the
 To know about CFG and its definition
 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Context Free Grammar

• A context-free grammar (CFG) is a set of recursive
rewriting rules (or productions) used to generate
patterns of strings.
Context-free grammar G can be defined by four tuples as:
• G = (V, T, P, S)
Where,
• G is the grammar.
• V is the final set of a non-terminal symbol. Like A,B,C etc
• T is the final set of a terminal symbol. like; a, b, c,1 , 2 etc.
• P is a set of production rules.
• S is the start symbol which is used to derive the string.
 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Examples of Context Free Grammar:

• {0n1n:n ≥ 0}{0n1n: n ≥ 0} is context-free because it is

generated by the context-free grammar ({S}, {0,1}, R,S)
({S}, {0,1}, P, S), where the set of rules, P, is as;

• S→0S1∣ε
(ε to denote the empty or null string.)
 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Example #2
• Language of balanced paranthesis
e.g., ()(((())))((()))….
• CFG?

G:
S => (S) | SS | 

How would you “interpret” the string “(((()))()())” using this grammar?

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 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Example #3
• A grammar for L = {0m1n | m≥n}

• CFG?
G:
S => 0S1 | A
A => 0A | 

How would you interpret the string “00000111”

using this grammar?

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 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Applications of CFLs & CFGs

• Compilers use parsers for syntactic checking
• Parsers can be expressed as CFGs
1. Balancing paranthesis:
• B ==> BB | (B) | Statement
• Statement ==> …
2. If-then-else:
• S ==> SS | if Condition then Statement else Statement | if Condition then
Statement | Statement
• Condition ==> …
• Statement ==> …
3. C paranthesis matching { … }
4. Pascal begin-end matching
5. YACC (Yet Another Compiler-Compiler)

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 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Derivation trees

Derivation tree is a graphical representation for the

derivation of the given production rules for a given CFG. It is
the simple way to show how the derivation can be done to
obtain some string from a given set of production rules. The
derivation tree is also called a parse tree.

A parse tree contains the following properties:

•The root node is always a node indicating start symbols.
•The derivation is read from left to right.
•The leaf node is always terminal nodes.
•The interior nodes are always the non-terminal nodes.
 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Example :
Production rules:
•E = E + E
•E = E * E
•E = a | b | c

Input
•a * b + c
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Step 1:

Step 2:
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Step 3:

Step 4:
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Step 5:
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Left-most & Right-most Derivation Styles

G:
E => E+E | E*E | (E) | F
F => aF | bF | 0F | 1F | 
Derive the string a*(ab+10) from G: E =*=>G a*(ab+10)
E E
==> E * E ==> E * E

==> F * E ==> E * (E)

Left-most ==> aF * E ==> E * (E + E)

Right-most
derivation: ==> a * E ==> E * (E + F)
derivation:
==> a * (E) ==> E * (E + 1F)

Always ==> a * (E + E) ==> E * (E + 10F)

Always
substitute ==> a * (F + E) ==> E * (E + 10)
substitute
leftmost ==> a * (aF + E) ==> E * (F + 10)
rightmost
==> a * (abF + E) ==> E * (aF + 10)
variable variable
==> a * (ab + E) ==> E * (abF + 0)

==> a * (ab + F) ==> E * (ab + 10)

==> a * (ab + 1F) ==> F * (ab + 10)

==> a * (ab + 10F) ==> aF * (ab + 10)

==> a * (ab + 10) ==> a * (ab + 10)

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 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Leftmost vs. Rightmost derivations

Q1) For every leftmost derivation, there is a rightmost

derivation, and vice versa. True or False?

True - will use parse trees to prove this

Q2) Does every word generated by a CFG have a leftmost

and a rightmost derivation?

Yes – easy to prove (reverse direction)

Q3) Could there be words which have more than one

leftmost (or rightmost) derivation?

Yes – depending on the grammar

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Parse trees

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 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Parse Trees
• Each CFG can be represented using a parse tree:
– Each internal node is labeled by a variable in V
– Each leaf is terminal symbol
– For a production, A==>X1X2…Xk, then any internal node labeled A
has k children which are labeled from X1,X2,…Xk from left to right

Parse tree for production and all other subsequent productions:

A ==> X1..Xi..Xk A

X1 … Xi … Xk

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 Examples

Recursive inference
A
E + E
0 A 0
F F

Derivation
1 A 1
a 1


Parse tree for 0110

Parse tree for a + 1
G: G:
E => E+E | E*E | (E) | F A => 0A0 | 1A1 | 0 | 1 | 
F => aF | bF | 0F | 1F | 0 | 1 | a | b
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Parse Trees, Derivations, and Recursive
Inferences
Production:
A ==> X1..Xi..Xk
A

Derivation
Recursive

X1 … Xi … Xk
inference

Left-most Parse tree

derivation

Derivation Right-most
Recursive
derivation
inference
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 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Interchangeability of different CFG representations

• Parse tree ==> left-most derivation
– DFS left to right
• Parse tree ==> right-most derivation
– DFS right to left
• ==> left-most derivation == right-most derivation
• Derivation ==> Recursive inference
– Reverse the order of productions
• Recursive inference ==> Parse trees
– bottom-up traversal of parse tree

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 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

Outcomes

• Knowledge of applications of CFLs & CFGs

• Knowledge of CFG
• Knowledge of parse trees
 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

FAQ :

1. Find L(G),where P consists of S ® asb , s ® ab .

2. What are the closure properties of context- free
Language?
3. Write CFG for L(G) = {a m b n c p / m + n = p , p ³ 1}.
 Department of Computer and Science Engineering (CSE)

REFERENCES :
• Martin J.C., “Introduction to Languages and Theory of
Computation”, Tata McGraw-Hill Publising Company
Limited, 3rd Edition.
• Daniel I.A. Cohen, “Introduction to computer Theory”, John
Wiley.
• K.L.P MISHRA, “Introduction to computer Theory” .
• https://youtu.be/NNSK4570Kho
• https://youtu.be/A_Zj-WaA2Lo
THANK YOU

University Institute of Engineering (UIE)