BAUCHI STATE UNIVERSITY

GADAU
FACULTY OF SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
CSC3309: (COMPILER CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN I)

GROUP 7
Q. Concept of Polish Notation in Compiler Design.
S/ MATRIC NO.
N
1 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/21/0900
2 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/21/0439
3 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/21/1392
4 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/21/0190
5 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/21/2385
6 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/21/0798
7 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/22/4180
8 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/21/1109
9 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/21/3159
10 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/21/0596
11 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/21/0989
12 BASUG/UG/SCI/CSC/21/3003
13 BASUG/UG/EDU/CMP-EDU/21/1047
14 BASUG/UG/EDU/CMP-EDU/21/0539
15 BASUG/UG/EDU/CMP-EDU/21/1074
16 BASUG/UG/EDU/CMP-EDU/21/1568
17 BASUG/UG/EDU/CMP-EDU/21/0778
18 BASUG/UG/EDU/CMP-EDU/21/1391
19 BASUG/UG/EDU/CMP-EDU/21/2209
20 BASUG/UG/EDU/CMP-EDU/21/2750
INTRODUCTION
Prefix Notation Polish notation is a notation form for expressing arithmetic,
logic and algebraic equations. Its most basic distinguishing feature is that
operators are placed on the left of their operands. If the operator has a
defined fixed number of operands, the syntax does not require brackets or
parenthesis to lessen ambiguity.
Polish notation is also known as prefix notation, prefix Polish notation,
normal Polish notation, Warsaw notation and Lukasiewicz notation.

BRIEF HISTORY;
Polish notation was invented in 1924 by Jan Lukasiewicz, a Polish logician
and philosopher, in order to simplify sentential logic. The idea is simply to
have a parenthesis-free notation that makes each equation shorter and easier
to parse in terms of defining the evaluation priority of the operators.
Prefix notation is a way of writing expressions that places operators before
operands. For example, + 2 3 and * x y are written with prefix notation.
Prefix notation is also known as Polish notation, after the Polish
mathematician Jan Łukasiewicz who invented it in the 1920s. Prefix notation
has the advantage of being unambiguous and easy to decipher for computers.
No need for brackets or rules for the order of operations. You can
evaluate prefix expressions by scanning them from left to right and applying
a stack data structure. Prefix notation places the operators before the
operands. In this notation, the operator is followed by its operands. For
example: + 2 * 3 4 . Prefix notation eliminates the need for parentheses as it
explicitly shows the operator and its operands.
Evaluating Prefix Expressions:
Prefix notation, also known as Polish Notation, is a mathematical notation
where every operator follows all of its operands. Unlike infix notation,
prefix notation eliminates the need for parentheses and defines a clear order
of operations. Using stacks, we can efficiently evaluate prefix expressions,
making it a fundamental concept in computer science and mathematics. The
evaluation of prefix expressions is done by starting from the rightmost
operator and applying it to the adjacent operands.
Expression: + * 2 + 3 4 5
This prefix expression can be interpreted in multiple ways due to the
presence of multiple operators of the same precedence level:
Interpretation 1: (2 * (3 + 4)) + 5
+
/\
* 5
/\
2 +
/\
3 4
Interpretation 1, the addition operation + is performed first, followed by
the multiplication operation *, and then another addition operation + .
Interpretation 2: ((2 * 3) + 4) + 5
+
/\
+ 5
/\
* 4
/\
2 3
In Interpretation 2, the multiplication operation * is performed first,
followed by the addition operation + , and then another addition operation +.
Both interpretations are valid and result in different final values. Without
additional information or parentheses to clarify the order of operations, it is
ambiguous which interpretation is intended. The tree structure illustrates the
hierarchy of operations. The leaf nodes represent the operands, and the
internal nodes represent the operators. The evaluation of the expression starts
from the bottom (leaf nodes) and moves upwards to the root (top node),
following the order defined by the tree structure. prefix notation, the
operators come before their operands. It is also called Polish notation, or
Warsaw notation. Below is the same equation in prefix notation: - * + 2 2 3
10.
For the evaluation of prefix notation, we also use the stack data structure.
The following are the rules for evaluating prefix notation using a queue:
 Reverse the given expression.
 Start scanning from left to right.
 If the current value is an operand, push it onto the stack.
 If the current is an operator, pop two elements from the stack,
 apply the at-hand operator on those two popped operands, and
 push the result onto the stack.
 At the end, pop an element from the stack, and that is the answer.
Compiler and Interpreter Design
Postfix and prefix notations are essential in the development of compilers
and interpreters for programming languages. These notations simplify the
process of parsing and evaluating expressions, making it easier to translate
high-level code into machine-executable instructions. When Polish notation
is used as a syntax for mathematical expressions by programming language
interpreters, it is readily parsed into abstract syntax trees and can, in fact,
define a one-to-one representation for the same. Because of this, Lisp (see
below) and related programming languages define their entire syntax in
prefix notation (and others use postfix notation).
Implementations
Prefix notation has seen wide application in Lisp S-expressions, where the
parentheses are required since the operators in the language are themselves
data (first-class functions). Lisp functions may also be variadic. The Tcl
programming language,much like Lisp also uses Polish notation through the
mathop library. The Ambi [19] programming language uses Polish notation
for arithmetic operations and program construction. LDAP filter syntax uses
Polish prefix notation. Postfix notation is used in many stack-oriented
programming languages like PostScript and Forth. CoffeeScript syntax also
allows functions to be called using prefix notation, while still supporting the
unary postfix syntax common in other languages. The number of return
values of an expression equals the difference between the number of
operands in an expression and the total arity of the operators minus the total
number of return values of the operators. Polish notation, usually in postfix
form, is the chosen notation of certain calculators, notably from Hewlett-
Packard. At a lower level, postfix operators are used by some stack
machines such as the Burroughs large systems.
Expression Parsing
In programming, you might encounter scenarios where you need to parse
expressions from strings, such as reading input from users or parsing
configuration files. Understanding postfix and prefix notations can help you
efficiently parse and evaluate these expressions. When used as the syntax for
programming language interpreters, Polish notation can be readily parsed
into an abstract syntax tree and stored in a stack. In traditional infix notation
with brackets, the equation has to be parsed, the brackets removed, and the
operator and operands repositioned. This is not the case with Polish notation,
which is why LISP and other related languages use this notation to define
their syntax.
REFERENCE
 https://medium.com/@guandika8/understanding-expressions-in-
computer-science-and-mathematics-infix-prefix-and-postfix-notation-
4f1f3ebe85b0
 https://www.educative.io/answers/how-to-evaluate-prefix-and-post-
fix-notations
 https://blogs.brain-mentors.com/evaluating-expressions-prefix-infix-
and-postfix-notations-using-stacks-2/
 https://techkluster.com/algorithm/infix-prefix-postfix/
 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_notation