Chapter Three

Context Free Languages

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 Context free grammar (CFG)

• A context-free grammar is a specification for the syntactic

structure of a programming language.
• Context-free grammar has 4-tuples:
G = (V, T, P, S) where
– T is a finite set of terminals (a set of tokens)
– V is a finite set of non-terminals (syntactic variables)
– P is a finite set of productions of the form
A→α where A is non-terminal and
α is a strings of terminals and non-terminals (including the empty
string)
 S ∈ V is a designated start symbol (one of the non- terminal
symbols)

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 Context-Free Grammars (CFG)

There is a finite set of symbols that form the strings, i.e. there is a
finite alphabet. The alphabet symbols are called terminals

• There is a finite set of variables, sometimes called non

terminals or syntactic categories. Each variable represents a
language (i.e. a set of strings).

• One of the variables is the start symbol. Other variables may

exist to help define the language.

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There is a finite set of productions or production rules that
represent the recursive definition of the language.
production is defined:
[Link] a single variable that is being defined to the left of the
production
[Link] the production symbol
[Link] a string of zero or more terminals or variables, called the
body of the production. To form strings we can substitute each
variable’s production in for the body where it appears.

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• Definition: A CFG, G=(V, T, P, S) with productions of the
form A  β, A Є V, β Є (VUT)*.
• A language generated from CFG is called Context Free
Language (CFL).
• Ex.
a) S  aB b) S  aB|A
B  bA|b A  aA|a|CBA
Aa Bλ
Cc

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 Derivation tree
•Derivation tree is sequence of productions rules.
• It is used to get i/p string.
• The root of the tree is S and x is the collection of leaves from
left to right.
•Left most derivation: employs the reduction of the left most
non-terminal
•Right most derivation: employs the reduction of the right most
non-terminal

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 Parse tree
• A parse tree is a graphical representation of a derivation.
• It filters out the order in which productions are applied to
replace non-terminals.

• A parse tree corresponding to a derivation is a labeled tree in

which:
• the interior nodes are labeled by non-terminals,
• the leaf nodes are labeled by terminals, and
• the children of each internal node represent the
replacement of the associated non-terminal in one step
of the derivation.

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 Parse tree and Derivation

Grammar E  E + E | E  E | ( E ) | - E | id
Lets examine this derivation:
E  -E  -(E)  -(E + E)  -(id + id)

E E E E E

- E - E - E - E

( E ) ( E ) ( E )

E + E E + E
This is a top-down derivation
because we start building the id id
parse tree at the top parse tree

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 Ambiguity
•If a derivation of a string x has two different left
most or right most derivations, then the grammar
is said to be ambiguous. Otherwise it is
unambiguous.
• a grammar is ambiguous if it can produce more
than one parse tree for a particular sentence( a set
of terminals).

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 Ambiguity: example
E  E + E | E  E | ( E ) | - E | id
Construct parse tree for the expression: id + id  id

E E E E

E + E E + E E + E

E  E id E  E

id id
E E E E

E  E E  E E  E

E + E E + E id
Which parse tree is correct?
id id
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 Ambiguity: example…
E  E + E | E  E | ( E ) | - E | id

Find a derivation for the expression: id + id  id

E
According to the grammar, both are correct.
E + E

id E  E
A grammar that produces more than one
id id
parse tree for any input sentence is said
E
to be an ambiguous grammar.
E * E

E + E id

id id
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1. G2 = (V, T, P, S) with productions:
S  SbS|ScS|a
let x = abaca Є L(G2)
a) find a left most and right most
derivations for x
b) draw the parse tree for x
2. Is G2 ambiguous?

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 Con..
1. G1 = (V, T, P, S) with productions:
S  AB
A  aA|a
B  bB|b
let x = aaabbb
a) find a left most and right most
derivations for x
b) draw the parse tree for x

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 Parsing

S ➞ XY
X ➞ XA | a | b
Y ➞ AY | a
A➞a

Does this grammar generate “baaa”?

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 Parsing Arithmetic Expression
• Consider the following grammar:
ET|E+T|E–T
T  F | T * F | T/F
F  a | b | c | (E)

Draw parse trees for

a) a*b+c b) a+b*c c) (a+b)*c d) a-b-c

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 CFG and programming languages
• One of the most important uses of the theory of formal
languages is in the definition of programming languages
and in the construction of interpreters and compilers for
them.
• regular languages helps us to model simple patterns in
programming languages, context free languages used to
model complex aspects.
• programming language that can be modeled by context-
free grammar is referred to as the syntax.

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 Simplifications
of
Context-Free Grammars

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 Simplifying Context-Free Grammars
• Variables in CFGs can often be eliminated
– If they are not recursive, you can substitute their rules
throughout.

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 A Substitution Rule

Equivalent
grammar
S  aB
S  aB | ab
A  aaA
Substitute A  aaA
A  abBc B b A  abBc | abbc
B  aA
B  aA
B b
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 A Substitution Rule
S  aB | ab
A  aaA
A  abBc | abbc
B  aA
Substitute
B  aA
S  aB | ab | aaA
A  aaA Equivalent
A  abBc | abbc | abaAc grammar
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In general:
A  xBz

B  y1

Substitute
B  y1

equivalent
A  xBz | xy1z grammar
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 Nullable Variables
• Any variable that can eventually
terminate in the empty string is said to
be nullable.
– Note: a variable may be indirectly
nullable
– In general: if A ➞ V1V2…Vn, and all
the Vi are nullable, then A is also
nullable.
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 Nullable Variables

  production : A 

Nullable Variable: A  

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 Removing Nullable Variables

Example Grammar:

S  aMb
M  aMb
M

Nullable variable

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 Final Grammar

S  aMb
S  aMb
Substitute S  ab
M  aMb M
M  aMb
M
M  ab

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 Unit-Productions

Unit Production: A B

(a single variable in both sides)

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 Removing Unit Productions

Observation:

A A

Is removed immediately

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Example Grammar:

S  aA
A a
A B
B A
B  bb

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S  aA
S  aA | aB
A a
Substitute A a
A B A B B  A| B
B A
B  bb
B  bb

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S  aA | aB S  aA | aB
A a Remove A a
B  A| B B B B A
B  bb B  bb

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S  aA | aB
S  aA | aB | aA
A a Substitute
B A A a
B A
B  bb
B  bb

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Remove repeated productions

Final grammar
S  aA | aB | aA S  aA | aB
A a A a
B  bb B  bb

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 Useless Productions

S  aSb
S
S A
A  aA Useless Production

Some derivations never terminate...

S  A  aA  aaA    aa  aA  
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Another grammar:

S A
A aA
A 
B bA Useless Production
Not reachable from S

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In general: contains only
terminals
if S    xAy    w

w L(G )

then variable A is useful

otherwise, variable A is useless

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A production A  x is useless
if any of its variables is useless

S  aSb
S Productions
Variables S  A useless
useless A  aA useless
useless B  C useless

useless C D useless
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 Removing Useless Productions

Example Grammar:

S  aS | A | C
A a
B  aa
C  aCb

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 First: find all variables that can produce
strings with only terminals

S  aS | A | C Round 1: { A, B}
A a S A
B  aa
C  aCb Round 2: { A, B, S }

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Keep only the variables
that produce terminal symbols: { A, B, S }
(the rest variables are useless)

S  aS | A | C
A a S  aS | A
B  aa A a
C  aCb B  aa
Remove useless productions
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Second: Find all variables
reachable from S

Use a Graph

S  aS | A
A a S A B
B  aa not
reachable

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 Keep only the variables
reachable from S
(the rest variables are useless)

Final Grammar
S  aS | A
S  aS | A
A a
A a
B  aa

Remove useless productions

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 Removing All

Step 1: Remove Nullable Variables

Step 2: Remove Unit-Productions

Step 3: Remove Useless Variables

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 Normal Forms
for
Context-free Grammars

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 Chomsky Normal Form

Each productions has form:

A  BC or A a

variable variable terminal

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Examples:

S AS S AS
S a S AAS
A SA A SA
A b A aa
Chomsky Not Chomsky
Normal Form Normal Form

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Convertion to Chomsky Normal Form

Example: S  ABa
A  aab
B  Ac

Not Chomsky
Normal Form

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Introduce variables for terminals: Ta , Tb , Tc

S  ABTa
S  ABa A  TaTaTb
A  aab B  ATc
B  Ac Ta  a
Tb  b
Tc  c
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Introduce intermediate variable: V1

S  AV1
S  ABTa
V1  BTa
A  TaTaTb
A  TaTaTb
B  ATc
B  ATc
Ta  a
Ta  a
Tb  b
Tb  b
Tc  c
Tc  c
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Introduce intermediate variable: V2
S  AV1
S  AV1
V1  BTa
V1  BTa
A  TaV2
A  TaTaTb
V2  TaTb
B  ATc
B  ATc
Ta  a
Ta  a
Tb  b
Tb  b
Tc  c
Tc  c 49
 Final grammar in Chomsky Normal Form:
S  AV1
V1  BTa
A  TaV2
Initial grammar
V2  TaTb
S  ABa B  ATc
A  aab Ta  a
B  Ac Tb  b
Tc  c 50
 Procedure

First remove:

Nullable variables

Unit productions

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Then, for every symbol a :

Add production Ta  a

In productions: replace a with Ta

New variable: Ta
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Replace any production A  C1C2 Cn

with A  C1V1
V1  C2V2

Vn 2  Cn 1Cn

New intermediate variables:V1, V2 ,  ,Vn  2

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 Greinbach Normal Form

All productions have form:

A  a V1V2 Vk k 0

symbol variables

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Examples:

S  cAB
S  abSb
A  aA | bB | b
S  aa
B b

Greinbach Not Greinbach

Normal Form Normal Form

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Conversion to Greinbach Normal Form:

S  aTb STb
S  abSb S  aTa
S  aa Ta  a
Tb  b
Greinbach
Normal Form
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THANK YOU

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