Scribd
Upload
11 views

2.introduction To Syntax Analysis

The document discusses syntax analysis, which is the second phase of compiler design after lexical analysis. It checks the syntactical structure of source code by building a parse tree using the language's grammar and production rules. If the input string can be derived using the parse tree and rules, then the syntax is correct.

Uploaded by

Venkataramanan Suresh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
11 views

2.introduction To Syntax Analysis

The document discusses syntax analysis, which is the second phase of compiler design after lexical analysis. It checks the syntactical structure of source code by building a parse tree using the language's grammar and production rules. If the input string can be derived using the parse tree and rules, then the syntax is correct.

Uploaded by

Venkataramanan Suresh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Compiler Design | Introduction to Syntax

Analysis
When an input string (source code or a program in some language) is given to a compiler, the
compiler processes it in several phases, starting from lexical analysis (scans the input and divides
it into tokens) to target code generation.

Syntax Analysis or Parsing is the second phase, i.e. after lexical analysis. It checks the syntactical
structure of the given input, i.e. whether the given input is in the correct syntax (of the language in
which the input has been written) or not. It does so by building a data structure, called a Parse tree
or Syntax tree. The parse tree is constructed by using the pre-defined Grammar of the language
and the input string. If the given input string can be produced with the help of the syntax tree (in
the derivation process), the input string is found to be in the correct syntax.

The Grammar for a Language consists of Production rules.

Example:
Suppose Production rules for the Grammar of a language are:

S -> cAd
A -> bc|a
And the input string is cad.

Now the parser attempts to construct syntax tree from this grammar for the given input string. It
uses the given production rules and applies those as needed to generate the string. To generate
string cad it uses the rules as shown in the given diagram:

In the step iii above, the production rule A->bc was not a suitable one to apply (because the string
produced is cbcd not cad), here the parser needs to backtrack, and apply the next production
rule available with A which is shown in the step iv, and the string cad is produced.
Thus, the given input can be produced by the given grammar, therefore the input is correct in
syntax.
But back-track was needed to get the correct syntax tree, which is really a complex process to
implement.

There can be an easier way to solve this, which we shall see in the next article Concepts of FIRST
and FOLLOW sets in Compiler Design.

You might also like