图文法综述

形式语言理论对计算机科学的发展起了重大的作用,作为对传统字符文法扩展的图文法的形式化研究,其重要意义是不言而喻的.本文在概述图文法的产生、发展和现状的基础上,着重介绍了从一维字符文法扩展到二维图文法所出现的新问题,以及在形式化处理上引出的新方法,其中最主要的是嵌入问题的解决、文法类型的划分和成员问题的判定.文中以目前较为流行的图文法为例,特别是一些典型的上下文无关和上下文相关的图文法,对上述的问题进行了深入的讨论,指出了现有方法中的一些不足之处,并展望了图文法今后值得研究的问题和方向.     

Using Meta-Modelling and Graph Grammars to Create Modelling Environments

This paper presents the combined use of meta-modelling and graph grammars for the generation of visual modelling tools for simulation formalisms. In meta-modelling, formalisms are described at a meta-level. This information is used by a meta-model processor to generate modelling tools for the described formalisms. We combine meta-modelling with graph grammars to extend the model manipulation capabilities of the generated modelling tools, as we store (meta-)models as graphs, and thus, express model manipulations as graph grammars.We show the design and implementation of these concepts in AToM³ (A Tool for Multi-formalism, Meta-Modelling). As an example we will present a meta-model for Causal Block Diagrams and a graph grammar to generate OOCSMP code, a continuous simulation language which has a compiler able to generate Java applets from the simulations models.     

A syntactic approach based on distortion-tolerant Adjacency Grammars and a spatial-directed parser to interpret sketched diagrams

This paper presents a syntactic approach based on Adjacency Grammars (AG) for sketch diagram modeling and understanding. Diagrams are a combination of graphical symbols arranged according to a set of spatial rules defined by a visual language. AG describe visual shapes by productions defined in terms of terminal and non-terminal symbols (graphical primitives and subshapes), and a set functions describing the spatial arrangements between symbols. Our approach to sketch diagram understanding provides three main contributions. First, since AG are linear grammars, there is a need to define shapes and relations inherently bidimensional using a sequential formalism. Second, our parsing approach uses an indexing structure based on a spatial tessellation. This serves to reduce the search space when finding candidates to produce a valid reduction. This allows order-free parsing of 2D visual sentences while keeping combinatorial explosion in check. Third, working with sketches requires a distortion model to cope with the natural variations of hand drawn strokes. To this end we extended the basic grammar with a distortion measure modeled on the allowable variation on spatial constraints associated with grammar productions. Finally, the paper reports on an experimental framework an interactive system for sketch analysis. User tests performed on two real scenarios show that our approach is usable in interactive settings.     

A shape grammar interpreter for rectilinear forms

Shape grammars play an important role in a new generation of tools for the analysis and design of products. Up until now there has been numerous attempts to create a general shape grammar interpreter, but most of the existing tools are either very specific in their purpose, have only limited functionality or were programmed for one operating system. In this work, we present a tool named Shape Grammar Interpreter (SGI) for the automatic generation of designs. The developed shape grammar framework allows designers to automatically synthetize designs and to actively participate in the generation process. Great effort has been devoted to provide an interactive way of defining shapes and later using them in shape grammar rules and designs’ generation process. The tool implements two different types of algorithms for the generation of designs. First, Tree-search algorithms which store the state of the generation process in a tree structure and uses traditional tree-search algorithms to find the next rule to apply. Second, and most importantly, an optimized subshape detection algorithm. Hence, subshapes of the existing shapes can be detected and used in the generation process obtaining not only a wider set of designs but potentially more appealing ones. In this paper, we also describe the architecture of the framework and provide a performance evaluation of proposed algorithms, showing a significant gain in performance. Potential applications of our research can be found in the educational field (i.e. architecture and arts) and in the automatic generation of architectural, mechanical and product designs.     

The Equivalence of Tree Adjoining Grammars and Monadic Linear Context-free Tree Grammars

The equivalence of leaf languages of tree adjoining grammars and monadic linear context-free grammars was shown about a decade ago. This paper presents a proof of the strong equivalence of these grammar formalisms. Non-strict tree adjoining grammars and monadic linear context-free grammars define the same class of tree languages. We also present a logical characterisation of this tree language class showing that a tree language is a member of this class iff it is the two-dimensional yield of an MSO-definable three-dimensional tree language.     

A Toolkit for Generating Sentences from Context-Free Grammars

Producing sentences from a grammar, according to various criteria, is required in many applications. It is also a basic building block for grammar engineering. This paper presents a toolkit for context-free grammars, which mainly consists of several algorithms for sentence generation or enumeration and for coverage analysis for context-free grammars. The toolkit deals with general context-free grammars. Besides providing implementations of algorithms, the toolkit also provides a simple graphical user interface, through which the user can use the toolkit directly. The toolkit is implemented in Java and is available at http://lcs.ios.ac.cn/~zhiwu/toolkit.php. In the paper, the overview of the toolkit and the major algorithms implemented in the toolkit are presented, and experimental results and preliminary applications of the toolkit are also contained.     

基于量子逻辑的自动机和文法理论

初步建立了基于量子逻辑的自动机和文法理论的基本框架.引入了量子文法(称为l值文法),特别是证明了任意l值正规文法生成的语言(称为量子语言)等价于某种基于量子逻辑且含动作(的自动机(称为l值自动机)识别的语言,反之,任意l值自动机识别的语言等价于某l值正规文法生成的语言.建立了l值泵引理,并得到量子语言的判定性刻画.最后简要讨论了正规文法与量子文法(即l值正规文法)的关系.因此,为进一步研究更复杂的量子自动机(如量子下推自动机和Turing机)和量子文法(如量子上下文无关文法和上下文有关文法)奠定了基础.     

Grammars++ for modelling information in text

Grammars provide a convenient means to describe the set of valid instances in a text database. Flexibility in choosing a grammar can be exploited to provide information modelling capability by designing productions in the grammar to represent entities and relationships of interest to database applications. Additional constraints can be specified by attaching predicates to selected nonterminals in the grammar. When used for database definition, grammars can provide the functionality that users have come to expect of database schemas. Extended grammars can also be used to specify database manipulation, including query, update, view definition, and index specification.     

Unidirectional Lambek Grammars in Polynomial Time

Lambek grammars provide a useful tool for studying formal and natural languages. The generative power of unidirectional Lambek grammars equals that of context-free grammars. However, no feasible algorithm was known for deciding membership in the corresponding formal languages. In this paper we present a polynomial algorithm for deciding whether a given word belongs to a language generated by a given unidirectional Lambek grammar.     

Interface Grammars for Modular Software Model Checking

Verification techniques relying on state enumeration (e.g., model checking) face two important challenges: the state-space explosion, an exponential increase in the state space as the number of components increases; and environment generation, modeling components that are either not available for analysis, or that cannot be handled by the verification tool in use. We propose a semi-automated approach for attacking these problems. In our approach, interfaces for the components not under analysis are specified using a specification language based on grammars. Specifically, an interface grammar for a component specifies the sequences of method invocations that are allowed by that component. We have built an compiler that takes the interface grammar for a component as input and generates a stub for that component. The stub thus generated can be used to replace that component during state space exploration, either to moderate state space explosion, or to provide an executable environment for the component under verification. We conducted a case study by writing an interface grammar for the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) persistence interface, and using the resulting stub to check EJB clients using the JPF model checker. Our results show that EJB clients can be verified efficiently with JPF using our approach.     

Comprehension Grammars Generated from Machine Learning of Natural Languages

We are developing a theory of probabilistic language learning in the context of robotic instruction in elementary assembly actions. We describe the process of machine learning in terms of the various events that happen on a given trial, including the crucial association of words with internal representations of their meaning. Of central importance in learning is the generalization from utterances to grammatical forms. Our system derives a comprehension grammar for a superset of a natural language from pairs of verbal stimuli like Go to the screw! and corresponding internal representations of coerced actions. For the derivation of a grammar no knowledge of the language to be learned is assumed but only knowledge of an internal language.We present grammars for English, Chinese, and German generated from a finite sample of about 500 commands that are roughly equivalent across the three languages. All of the three grammars, which are context-free in form, accept an infinite set of commands in the given language.     

Unification Grammars and Off-Line Parsability

Unification grammars are known to be Turing-equivalent; given a grammar G and a word w, it is undecidable whether w L(G). In order to ensure decidability, several constraints on grammars, commonly known as off-line parsability (OLP), were suggested, such that the recognition problem is decidable for grammars which satisfy OLP. An open question is whether it is decidable if a given grammar satisfies OLP. In this paper we investigate various definitions of OLP and discuss their interrelations, proving that some of the OLP variants are indeed undecidable. We then present a novel, decidable OLP constraint which is more liberal than the existing decidable ones.     

Second-Order Abstract Categorial Grammars as Hyperedge Replacement Grammars

Second-order abstract categorial grammars (de Groote in Association for computational linguistics, 39th annual meeting and 10th conference of the European chapter, proceedings of the conference, pp. 148–155, 2001) and hyperedge replacement grammars (Bauderon and Courcelle in Math Syst Theory 20:83–127, 1987; Habel and Kreowski in STACS 87: 4th Annual symposium on theoretical aspects of computer science. Lecture notes in computer science, vol 247, Springer, Berlin, pp 207–219, 1987) are two natural ways of generalizing “context-free” grammar formalisms for string and tree languages. It is known that the string generating power of both formalisms is equivalent to (non-erasing) multiple context-free grammars (Seki et al. in Theor Comput Sci 88:191–229, 1991) or linear context-free rewriting systems (Weir in Characterizing mildly context-sensitive grammar formalisms, University of Pennsylvania, 1988). In this paper, we give a simple, direct proof of the fact that second-order ACGs are simulated by hyperedge replacement grammars, which implies that the string and tree generating power of the former is included in that of the latter. The normal form for tree-generating hyperedge replacement grammars given by Engelfriet and Maneth (Graph transformation. Lecture notes in computer science, vol 1764. Springer, Berlin, pp 15–29, 2000) can then be used to show that the tree generating power of second-order ACGs is exactly the same as that of hyperedge replacement grammars.     

Grammars and relations

The potential benefits obtained when context-free grammars are used to define complex objects in the relational model are demonstrated. The grammar formalism facilitates relational queries on the hierarchical structure of these objects and promotes the use of grammar-based tools as front ends to relational database systems     

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.     

一种特殊的上下文无关文法及其语法分析

SAQ系统是一个进行软件规约获取、检验和复用的实验系统，其中以上下文无关文法表示的概念是规约的一部分.SAQ要求将概念的词法和句法定义结合在一个上下文无关文法中.如果用常规的上下文无关文法描述诸如程序设计语言和自然语言等一些复杂概念的语法，则需要把诸如空格和回车等没有实质意义的分隔符包含到语法中去(这种描述方法称为朴素表示法),使得语法描述很累赘.为此，作者设计了一种特殊的上下文无关文法,它把通常上下文无关文法定义中的非终极符集合和终极符集合进行细化.用这种文法可以相对简洁地描述程序语言和自然语言等复杂概     

Design with shape grammars and reinforcement learning

Shape grammars are a powerful and appealing formalism for automatic shape generation in computer-based design systems. This paper presents a proposal complementing the generative power of shape grammars with reinforcement learning techniques. We use simple (naive) shape grammars capable of generating a large variety of different designs. In order to generate those designs that comply with given design requirements, the grammar is subject to a process of machine learning using reinforcement learning techniques. Based on this method, we have developed a system for architectural design, aimed at generating two-dimensional layout schemes of single-family housing units. Using relatively simple grammar rules, we learn to generate schemes that satisfy a set of requirements stated in a design guideline. Obtained results are presented and discussed.     

Leftist Grammars and the Chomsky Hierarchy

Leftist grammars are characterized in terms of rules of the form a → ba and cd → d, without distinction between terminals and nonterminals. They were introduced by Motwani et al. [13], where the accessibility problem for some general protection system was related to these grammars. This protection system was originally proposed in [4] and [15] in the context of Java virtual worlds. The accessibility problem is formulated in the form "Can object p gain (illegal) access to object q by a series of legal moves (as prescribed by the policy)?" The membership problem for leftist grammar is decidable [13], which implies decidability of the accessibility problem for the appropriate protection system. We study relationships between language classes defined by various types of leftist grammars and classes of the Chomsky hierarchy. We show that general leftist grammars can define languages which arenot context free, answering in the negative a question from [13]. Moreover, we study some restricted variants of leftist grammars and relate them to regular, deterministic context-free, and context-free languages.     

Automatic generation of MPEG test streams from high-level grammars

This paper describes a technique to generate complex, moving picture experts group (MPEG) data streams containing packets which range through a selected set of variants, as allowed by the grammar of the packet stream. The Prolog logic programming language has been used, whose declarative power allows data generation almost directly from the grammar, i.e. without the need for explicitly programming a grammar traversal mechanism as would be the case with an imperative language. A reasonably declarative style of grammar and variation definition is achieved, and at the same time, a reasonably efficient generation process. The basic idea is to use a declarative fragment of Prolog for the grammar, but to use imperative features of Prolog for matters like packet enumeration and packet payload generation. Generation of test data from grammars is not new, nor is the use of Prolog programs for generation of test data, but as far as we know, the combination of both has not reported on in the literature, nor its application to MPEG demultiplexers/decoders.