Parsing

Parsing Techniques

Parsing, also referred to as syntax analysis, has been and continues to be an essential part of computer science and linguistics. Today, parsing techniques are also implemented in a number of other disciplines, including but not limited to, document preparation and conversion, typesetting chemical formulae, and chromosome recognition. This second edition presents new developments and discoveries that have been made in the field. Parsing techniques have grown considerably in importance, both in computational linguistics where such parsers are the only option, and computer science, where advanced compilers often use general CF parsers. Parsing techniques provide a solid basis for compiler construction and contribute to all existing software: enabling Web browsers to analyze HTML pages and PostScript printers to analyze PostScript. Some of the more advanced techniques are used in code generation in compilers and in data compression. In linguistics, the importance of formal grammars was recognized early on, but only recently have the corresponding parsing techniques been applied. Also their importance as general pattern recognizers is slowly being acknowledged. This text Parsing Techniques explores new developments, such as generalized deterministic parsing, linear-time substring parsing, parallel parsing, parsing as intersection, non-canonical methods, and non-Chomsky systems. To provide readers with low-threshold access to the full field of parsing techniques, this new edition uses a two-tiered structure. The basic ideas behind the dozen or so existing parsing techniques are explained in an intuitive and narrative style, and problems are presented at the conclusion of each chapter, allowing the reader to step outside the bounds of the covered material and explore parsing techniques at various levels. The reader is also provided with an extensive annotated bibliography as well as hints and partial solutions to a number of problems. In the bibliography, hundreds of realizations and improvements of parsing techniques are explained in a much terser, yet still informal, style, improving its readability and usability. The reader should have an understanding of algorithmic thinking, especially recursion; however, knowledge of any particular programming language is not required.

Parsing Theory

This work is Volume II of a two-volume monograph on the theory of deterministic parsing of context-free grammars. Volume I, "Languages and Parsing" (Chapters 1 to 5), was an introduction to the basic concepts of formal language theory and context-free parsing. Volume II (Chapters 6 to 10) contains a thorough treat ment of the theory of the two most important deterministic parsing methods: LR(k) and LL(k) parsing. Volume II is a continuation of Volume I; together these two volumes form an integrated work, with chapters, theorems, lemmas, etc. numbered consecutively. Volume II begins with Chapter 6 in which the classical con structions pertaining to LR(k) parsing are presented. These include the canonical LR(k) parser, and its reduced variants such as the LALR(k) parser and the SLR(k) parser. The grammarclasses for which these parsers are deterministic are called LR(k) grammars, LALR(k) grammars and SLR(k) grammars; properties of these grammars are also investigated in Chapter 6. A great deal of attention is paid to the rigorous development of the theory: detailed mathematical proofs are provided for most of the results presented.

Exercises in Parsing for Beginners