2020-8-15

Syntax Analysis
Zakia Zinat Choudhury
Lecturer
Department of Computer Science & Engineering
University of Rajshahi

CONTENTS
01. The Role of the Parser
02. Limitations of Syntax Analyzers
03. Syntax Error Handling
04. Context-Free Grammars
05. Description of Four Tuples of CFG
06. Derivations
07. Parse Tree
08. Ambiguity
09. Recursion
10. Elimination of Left Recursion
11. Left Factoring

Zakia Zinat Choudhury, Lecturer, Dept. of CSE, RU 2

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The Role of the Parser

A syntax analyzer or parser takes the input from a lexical analyzer in the form of token streams.
The parser analyzes the source code (token stream) against the production rules to detect any
errors in the code. The output of this phase is a parse tree.
Token Token
Source Stream Stream
Code
Lexical Syntax
Analyzer Analyzer

Regular Context-Free
Expression Grammar

Syntax analyzers receive their inputs, in the form

of tokens, from lexical analyzers. Lexical
analyzers are responsible for the validity of a
token supplied by the syntax analyzer.
Syntax analyzers have the following drawbacks -
it cannot determine if a token is valid

Limitations of it cannot determine if a token is declared

Syntax Analyzers before it is being used

it cannot determine if a token is initialized
before it is being used
it cannot determine if an operation
performed on a token type is valid or not.

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Lexical errors include misspellings of identifiers, keywords, or

operators.
Syntactic errors include misplaced semicolons or extra or missing
braces; that is, '((" or ")."
Semantic errors include type mismatches between operators and
operands.
Logical error is a mistake in a program's source code that results in
incorrect or unexpected behavior. It is a type of runtime error that may
simply produce the wrong output or may cause a program to crash
while running.
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Context-Free Grammars

A Context-Free Grammar(CFG) is a set of rules or productions used to generate patterns

of strings.

CFG has four tuples (V/N,T/Σ,P/R,S)

V → Variable or Non-Terminals
T → Termminals or Σ
P → Productions or Rules
S → Star Symbol

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Terminals(Σ): A set of terminal symbols, sometimes referred to as

"tokens." Terminals are the basic symbols from which strings are formed.
Non-Terminals(V): A set of nonterminals, sometimes called "syntactic
variables." Each nonterminal represents a set of strings of terminals. Non
terminal symbol appears on the left side of the production.
A set of productions(P): The productions of a grammar specify the
Description of Four manner in which the terminals and non-terminals can be combined to form
Tuples of CFG strings. Each production consists of a nonterminal, called the head or left
side of the production, an arrow, and a sequence of terminals and/or
nonterminals, called the body or right side of the production.
Start Symbol(S): One of the non-terminals is designated as the start
symbol (S); from where the production begins.

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Derivations
A derivation is basically a sequence of production rules, in order to get the input string. During
parsing, two decisions are taken for some sentential form of input:

v Deciding the non-terminal which is to be replaced.

v Deciding the production rule, by which, the non-terminal will be replaced.

Left-most Derivation
If the sentential form of an input is scanned and replaced from left to right, it is called left-most
derivation. The sentential form derived by the left-most derivation is called the left-sentential form.

Right-most Derivation
If we scan and replace the input with production rules, from right to left, it is known as right-most
derivation. The sentential form derived from the right-most derivation is called the right-sentential
form.

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Parse Tree
A parse tree is a graphical representation of a derivation. It is convenient to see how strings a
re derived from the start symbol. The start symbol of the derivation becomes the root of
the parse tree. When a CFG is given, a parse tree can be found accrding to the grammar
with following properties:
1. The root is labeled by the start symbol.
2. Each leaf is labeled by a terminal or by ꜫ.
3. Each interior node is labeled by a nonterminal.
4. If A is the nonterminal labeling some interior node and X1, X2, . . . , Xn are the labels
of the children of that node from left to right, then there must be a production
A → X1 X2 ….. Xn. Here, X1, X2, . . . , Xn, each stand for a symbol that is either a
terminal or a nonterminal. As a special case, if A → ꜫ is a production, then a node
labeled A may have a single child labeled ꜫ.

Ambiguity
A grammar that produces more than one parse tree for some sentence is said to be
ambiguous.
Put another way, an ambiguous grammar is one that produces more than one leftmost
derivation or more than one rightmost derivation for the same sentence.

For Example:
The Grammar is:
E→E+E
E→E-E
E→id
For the string id + id – id, how many parse tree will be geanerated?

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Recursion
The process in which a function calls itself directly or indirectly is called recursion
and the corresponding function is called as recursive function.

Recursion two types:

Left and right recursion

Elimination of Left Recursion

A grammar is left recursive if it has a nonterminal A such that there is a derivation
A → Aα for some string α. Top-down parsing methods cannot handle left-recursive
grammars, so a transformation is needed to eliminate left recursion.

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Elimination of Left Recursion

Left Factoring

Left factoring is a grammar transformation that is useful for producing a grammar

suitable for predictive, or top-down, parsing. When the choice between two alternative
A-productions is not clear, we may be able to rewrite the productions to defer the
decision until enough of the input has been seen that we can make the right choice.

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Left Factoring

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Zakia Zinat Choudhury, Lecturer, Dept. of CSE, RU

a) Sajeeb Chakraborty, Rumi Umme, Md.

Meem Mursalin Chowdhury, Humayun
Ahmad Rajib,Rico, Fahim Nirob

b) Abdur Rahim Sheikh, itsRakibul, Bobi,

Mehedi Hasan,Prithu Rani Roy

c) Jahid hasan, Rafi, Rifat, Asif Himu,

Riya, zahir

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THANK YOU

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