This document discusses context-free grammars and provides examples. It defines a context-free grammar as a 4-tuple (V, Σ, R, S) where V is variables, Σ is terminals, R is rules, and S is the start variable. It gives examples of CFGs for palindromes and arithmetic expressions. It discusses derivations, leftmost and rightmost derivations, parse trees, and designing CFGs for specific languages.
This document discusses context-free grammars and provides examples. It defines a context-free grammar as a 4-tuple (V, Σ, R, S) where V is variables, Σ is terminals, R is rules, and S is the start variable. It gives examples of CFGs for palindromes and arithmetic expressions. It discusses derivations, leftmost and rightmost derivations, parse trees, and designing CFGs for specific languages.
This document discusses context-free grammars and provides examples. It defines a context-free grammar as a 4-tuple (V, Σ, R, S) where V is variables, Σ is terminals, R is rules, and S is the start variable. It gives examples of CFGs for palindromes and arithmetic expressions. It discusses derivations, leftmost and rightmost derivations, parse trees, and designing CFGs for specific languages.
This document discusses context-free grammars and provides examples. It defines a context-free grammar as a 4-tuple (V, Σ, R, S) where V is variables, Σ is terminals, R is rules, and S is the start variable. It gives examples of CFGs for palindromes and arithmetic expressions. It discusses derivations, leftmost and rightmost derivations, parse trees, and designing CFGs for specific languages.
Context-Free Grammars CSE 211 (Theory of Computation)
Atif Hasan Rahman
Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science and Engineering Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology
Adapted from slides by
Dr. Muhammad Masroor Ali
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
A CFG for palindromes
P→ P→0 P→1 P → 0P0 P → 1P1
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Formal definition of a Context-Free Grammar
A context-free grammar is a 4-tuple (V , Σ, R, S) or
(V , T , P, S), where i V is a finite set called the variables ii Σ or T is a finite set, disjoint from V , called the terminals iii R or P is a finite set of rules or productions, with each rule being a variable and a string of variables and terminals
variable → string of variables and terminals
iv S ∈ V is the start variable The variable in the first rule if not explicitly mentioned
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Formal definition of a Context-Free Grammar
Context-free grammar for the palindromes
Gpal = {{P}, {0, 1}, R, P}
i {P} is the set of variables
ii { 0,1 } is the set of terminals iii R is the set of rules P → P →0 P →1 P → 0P0 P → 1P1 iv P is the start variable
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
CFG - an example
A CFG that represents a simplification of expressions in a
typical programming language Restricted to the operators + and * Identifiers (letters followed by zero or more letters and digits) allow only the letters a and b and the digits 0 and 1 We need two variables in this grammar E represents expressions. It is the start symbol Represents the language of expressions we are defining I represents identifiers Its language is actually regular It is the language of the regular expression
(a + b)(a + b + 0 + 1)∗
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
CFG - an example
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Derivation using a CFG
The sequence of substitutions to obtain a string is called a
derivation The symbol =⇒ is used to denote yields or derives * is used to denote zero or more steps The inference that a ∗ (a + b00) is in the language of variable E
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Leftmost and Rightmost Derivations
Leftmost derivation At each step we replace the leftmost variable by one of its production bodies Rightmost derivation At each step we replace the rightmost variable by one of its production bodies
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Leftmost Derivation
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Rightmost Derivation
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Language of a grammar
If G = (V , Σ, R, S) is a CFG, the language of G denoted
L(G) is the set of terminal strings that have derivations from the start symbol
If a language L is the language of some context-free
grammar, then L is said to be a context-free language or CFL
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Parse Trees
Let G = (V , Σ, R, S) be a CFG, the parse trees for G are
trees with following conditions i Each interior node is labeled by a variable in V ii Each leaf is labeled by either a variable, a terminal, or However, if the leaf is labeled then it must be the only child of its parent iii If an interior node is labeled A, and its children are labeled
X1 , X2 . . . Xk
respectively, from the left, then A → X1 X2 . . . Xk is a rule in
R. Note that the only time one of the X ’s can be is if that is the label of the only child, and A → is a rule of G
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Parse Tree - example
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Parse Tree - example
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Yield of a Parse Tree
If we look at the leaves of any parse tree and concatenate
them from the left, we get a string, called the yield of the tree Of special importance are those parse trees such that i The yield is a terminal string, That is, all leaves are labeled either with a terminal or with ii The root is labeled by the start symbol These are the parse trees whose yields are strings in the language of the underlying grammar The language of a grammar is the set of yields of those parse trees having the start symbol at the root and a terminal string as yield
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Parse Tree - example
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Inference, Derivations, and Parse Trees
The following are equivalent
Recursive inference is a body to head process to infer membership of a string in a language
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Inference, Derivations, and Parse Trees
Proofs use induction
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Designing CFGs
Design a CFG, for the alphabet Σ = {0, 1}, for the
language
{w|w contains at least three 1s}
100101 01100101 1111
00101000
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Designing CFGs
CFG for the language {w|w contains at least three 1s}
Three 1s separated, preceded, followed by any string S → X 1X 1X 1X X s need to generate any string over Σ = {0, 1} X → 0X |1X |
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Designing CFGs
CFG for the language {w|w contains at least three 1s}
Three 1s separated, preceded, followed by any string S → X 1X 1X 1X X s need to generate any string over Σ = {0, 1} X → 0X |1X |
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Designing CFGs
CFG for the language {w|w contains at least three 1s}
Three 1s separated, preceded, followed by any string S → X 1X 1X 1X X s need to generate any string over Σ = {0, 1} X → 0X |1X |
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Designing CFGs
CFG for the language {w|w contains at least three 1s}
Three 1s separated, preceded, followed by any string S → X 1X 1X 1X X s need to generate any string over Σ = {0, 1} X → 0X |1X |
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Designing CFGs
CFG for the language {w|w contains at least three 1s}
Three 1s separated, preceded, followed by any string S → X 1X 1X 1X X s need to generate any string over Σ = {0, 1} X → 0X |1X |
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Designing CFGs
Designing CFGs require creativity
Some techniques are helpful Some CFLs are the union of simpler CFLs. Construct a grammar for each piece and combine them with a rule like
S → S1 |S2 | · · · |Sk
If the CFL happens to be regular and if you can construct a
DFA, it can be easily converted to a CFG Make a variable Ri for each state qi in the DFA Add the rule Ri → aRj if δ(qi , a) = qj is a transition Add the rule Ri → if qi is an accept state
Atif Hasan Rahman CFG
CSE 211 CFG
Exercise Design a DFA for the language {w|w contains at least three 1s} and convert it to CFG
