Front end of a compiler: The action of parsing a source program into proper syntactic classes is known as what stage of compilation?

Introduction / Context:
The front end of a compiler typically consists of lexical analysis, syntax analysis (parsing), and semantic analysis. Understanding which phase groups tokens into grammatical structures is critical for designing grammars and parser generators.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Source code first becomes a stream of tokens (identifiers, keywords, operators).
• Those tokens are then organized into parse trees according to a grammar.
• The question explicitly uses the word “parsing.”

Concept / Approach:
Lexical analysis classifies character sequences into tokens. Syntax analysis (parsing) takes those tokens and assembles them into syntactic constructs (expressions, statements, declarations) according to context-free grammar rules. The output is typically a parse tree or abstract syntax tree used by later phases.

Step-by-Step Solution:

Verification / Alternative check:
Compiler textbooks and tools (Yacc/Bison/ANTLR) explicitly label this phase syntax analysis.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Lexical analysis: tokenization, not parsing. “Interpretation analysis” and “general syntax analysis” are not standard phase names; the precise term is syntax analysis.

Common Pitfalls:
Using “parsing” to mean tokenization; they are separate steps with different formalisms (regular vs. context-free languages).

Final Answer:
syntax analysis