The following program creates the syntax tree of a mathematical expression in prefix notation. For simplicity, we assume that the terms of the expression are individual characters (digits). Each time the recursive function parse() is called, a new node is created, whose value is the next character of the expression. If the value is a term (digit), we return the new node. However, if it is an operator, we set the left and right pointers to point the tree made (recursively) for the two operands.
Tag Archive: prefix
To calculate a prefix expression, we either convert a number from ASCII to decimal (in the loop ‘while’ at the end of the program) or implement the operation indicated by the first character of the expressions to the two terms, with a recursive calculation. This function is recursive, but it uses a global array containing the expression and an index number for the current character of the expression. The index number goes beyond each sub-expression calculated.
Efstathios Chatzikyriakidis 