14349700
Normal form algorithms for extended context-free grammars
We investigate the complexity of a variety of normal-form transformations for extended context-free grammars, where by extended we mean that the set of right-hand sides for each nonterminal in such a grammar is a regular set. The study is motivated by the implementation project GraMa which will provide a C++ toolkit for the symbolic manipulation of context-free objects just as Grail does for regular objects. Our results generalize known complexity bounds for context-free grammars but do so in nontrivial ways. Specifically, we introduce a new representation scheme for extended context-free grammars (the symbol-threaded expression forest), a new normal form for these grammars (dot normal form) and new regular expression algorithms. Copyright 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.
6720403
The visual specification of context
We introduce a simple and novel visual technique for the specification of context in structured documents called T-graphs that we base on T-configurations in document trees. The technique is implemented in the current version of DESIGNER. Although we are applying this technique in the specification of context-dependent style sheets for HTML, XML, and SGML documents, it is clear that it can be used in other environments such as query specification for structured documents and for computer program transformations. We compare T-graphs with the context specification techniques found in other style-sheet systems and we also provide examples of context that we can and cannot specify with T-graphs. Although T-graphs are restrictive, they lend themselves to visual construction and modification, our main requirement when we designed this context specification method. We also investigate the time and space complexity of T-graph matching, a necessity for efficient implementation.
29528938
Caterpillars: A Context Specification Technique
1095978
SGML and XML Document Grammars and Exceptions
The Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) and the Extensible Markup Language (XML) allow users to define document-type definitions (DTDs), which are essentially extended context-free grammars expressed in a notation that is similar to extended Backus?Naur form. The right-hand side of a production, called a content model, is both an extended and a restricted regular expression. The semantics of content models for SGML DTDs can be modified by exceptions (XML does not allow exceptions). Inclusion exceptions allow named elements to appear anywhere within the content of a content model, and exclusion exceptions preclude named elements from appearing in the content of a content model. We give precise definitions of the semantics of exceptions, and prove that they do not increase the expressive power of SGML DTDs when we restrict DTDs according to accepted SGML practice. We prove the following results:1. Exceptions do not increase the expressive power of extended context-free grammars.2. For each DTD with exceptions, we can obtain a structurally equivalent extended context-free grammar.3. For each DTD with exceptions, we can construct a structurally equivalent DTD when we restrict the DTD to adhere to accepted SGML practice.4. Exceptions are a powerful shorthand notation?eliminating them may cause exponential growth in the size of an extended context-free grammar or of a DTD.
13899040
The Regularity of Two-Way Nondeterministic Tree Automata Languages
We establish that regularly extended two-way nondeterministic tree automata with unranked alphabets have the same expressive power as regularly extended nondeterministic tree automata with unranked alphabets alphabets. We obtain this results by establishing regularly extended versions of a congruence on trees and of a congruence on, so called, views. Our motivation for the study of these tree models is the Extensible Markup Language (XML), a metalanguage for defining document grammars. Such grammars have regular sets of right-hand sides for their productions and tree automata provide an alternative and useful modeling tool for them. In particular, we believe that they provide a useful computational model for what we call caterpillar expressions.
3174555
A characterization of Thompson digraphs
A finite-state machine is called a Thompson machine if it can be constructed from an empty-free regular expression using the construction of Thompson as modified by Hopcroft and Ullman. We call the underlying digraph of a Thompson machine a Thompson digraph. We characterize Thompson digraphs and we give an algorithm that generates an equivalent regular expression from a Thompson machine that has size linear in the total number of states and transitions. Although the algorithm is simple, it is novel in that the usual constructions of equivalent regular expressions from finite-state machines produce regular expressions that have size exponential in the size of the given machine, in the worst case. The algorithm provides a tentative first step in the construction of small expressions from finite-state machines.
30874363
Synchronized EOL Forms Under Uniform Interpretation
— The aim ofthis paper is thejurther study oj EOLjorms under uniform interprétation. We are naturally led to the considération oj synchronized EOLjorms, which become the central thème of this paper. We prove: a ""strongest"" possible normaljorm resuit, the spanning normalJorm theorem; the non-existence oj uni-generatorsjor "reasonable" language amilies, which include thefinite, regular and context-jree j amilies; and a char act erization oj those ynchronized jorms which, under uniform interprétation, yield all regular languages. In closing we remark on three topics which are worthy oj separate investigation. Résumé. — Le but de cet article est de poursuivre l'étude des EOL-jormes sous des interprétations unijormes. Nous sommes conduits naturellement à considérer les EOL-jormes synchronisées qui deviennent le thème central de cet article. Nous établissons : un résultat sur la forme normale la plus « serrée » possible, le théorème sur la forme normale recouvrante, la non-existence d'uni-générateurs pour des jamilles « raisonnables » de langages qui comprennent les langages finis, rationnels et algébriques; et une caractérisation des formes synchronisées qui donnent, par interprétation unijorme, tous les langages rationnels. Pour terminer, nous effleurons trois domaines qui méritent une étude séparée.
7533318
Completeness of Context-Free Grammar Forms
The notions of a grammar form and g-interpretation were first introduced in [2]. However, it quickly became apparent, particularly for EOL forms [5], that (strict) interpretations had a wider interest as well as being better motivated mathematically. The study of parsing of grammar forms detailed in [4], the basic investigation in [8] on linear completeness amongst other results, the study of density in [9, lo] and the connections with graph theory shown in [ 1 l] have affirmed this position. The present paper continues the approach of [8] focussing on the characterization of complete grammar forms, that is grammar forms which generate all’ context-free languages. Some decidability problems will also be discussed. For further morivation and background material we refer the reader to [8, 141, while for all unexplained concepts in language theory, see [ 131. After giving the necessary definitions in the remainder of this section we characterize complete grammar forms in Section 2, 3 and 4. In Section 2 we introduce the central concept of expansion spectrum and in Section 3 the recently proved super normal form theorem [ 121, while in Section 4 the characterization is completed and generators and hierarchies are briefly mentioned. Consider context-free grammars G = (V, C, P, S), where Z is the alphabet of terminals, VZ the alphabet of nonterminals, P is the set of productions and
1804621
The Maximum Number of Edges in a Three-Dimensional Grid-Drawing
An exact formula is given for the maximum number of edges in a graph that admits a three-dimensional grid-drawing contained in a given bounding box. The first universal lower bound on the volume of threedimensional grid-drawings is obtained as a corollary. Our results generalise to the setting of multi-dimensional polyline grid-drawings.
1943361
Modeling cost/performance of a parallel computer simulator
This article examines the cost/performance of simulating a hypothetical target parallel computer using a commercial host parallel computer. We address the question of whether parallel simulation is simply faster than sequential simulation, or if it is also more cost-effective. To answer this, we develop a performance model of the Wisconsin Wind Tunnel (WWT), a system that simulates cache-coherent shared-memory machines on a message-passing Thinking Machines CM-5. The performance model uses Kruskal and Weiss's fork-join model to account for the effect of event processing time variability on WWT's conservative fixed-window simulation algorithm. A generalization of Thiebaut and Stone's footprint model accurately predicts the effect of cache interference on the CM-5. The model is calibrated using parameters extracted from a fully parallel simulation (p = N), and validated by measuring the speedup as the number of processors (p) ranges from 1 to the number of target nodes (N). Together with simple cost models, the performance model indicates that for target system sizes of 32 nodes and larger, parallel simulation is more cost-effective than sequential simulation. The key intuition behind this result is that large simulations require large memories, which dominate the cost of a uniprocessor; parallel computers allow multiple processors to simultaneously access this large memory.
28831435
On grammar forms with terminal context
SummaryA context-free grammar form G defines a family of context-free grammars {ie397-01}(G). In this paper {ie397-02}(G) is extended to give the family of terminal context grammars {ie397-03}(G), which were introduced by Book [4]. It is shown that the families of languages defined by {ie397-04}(G) and {ie397-05}(G) are equal when G is an ɛ-free context-free grammar form. This generalizes the result of Book [4] for context-free grammars and underlines the usefulness of the notion of grammar forms in formal language theory.