So the code is rather complicated so ill try to do some neat pseudo code that covers the most important issues. I'm trying to parse a math expression. For example: 1-5*(-2)+3 = 14
The syntax that im using is:
expression = term OR term+expression OR term-expression
term = factor OR factor*term OR factor/term
factor = number OR -factor OR (expression)
I have written a piece of code which checks if an expression follows this syntax and it works well for checking the expressions but not for calculating it.
The pseudo code goes something like:
double readExpression()
number = readTerm()
if token == +
number2 = readExpression()
return number + number2
else if token == -
number2 = readExpression()
return number - number2
else
return number
...
(The code for readTerm() is identical to readExpression() in structure)
...
double readFactor()
if token == number
return number
else if token == -
number = readFactor()
return (-1)*number
else if token == (
number = readExpression()
return number
else raise exception
If I do the above calculation with this code it will give me a tree that looks like this:
So anyway, as you matematicians have figured out byt now, the expression should give 14 and not 8 as the tree suggests. I have noticed the that the problem arises when there are minus-signs in front of expressions since affect the whole right term i this problem whilst they should only affect the middle-term.
Ive been thinking like crazy for weeks and thought about solutions for this and looked at other codes and so on. Please dont toss a bunch of links on me if they are not really really simple and good since ive been browsing alot myself on tree traversals and other relevant topics.
What could i do at this stage? As I said, my program can tell if its right or wrong. So now I only need to parse a correct expression. Should I write another class for the parsing of the correct expression? Is it easier? Anyway I dont see how that code would look different than this.
