State Elimination Ordering Strategies: Some Experimental Results

Recently, the problem of obtaining a short regular expression equivalent to a given finite automaton has been intensively investigated. Algorithms for converting finite automata to regular expressions have an exponential blow-up in the worst-case. To overcome this, simple heuristic methods have been proposed. In this paper we analyse some of the heuristics presented in the literature and propose new ones. We also present some experimental comparative results based on uniform random generated deterministic finite automata.Comment: In Proceedings DCFS 2010, arXiv:1008.127

From Finite Automata to Regular Expressions and Back--A Summary on Descriptional Complexity

The equivalence of finite automata and regular expressions dates back to the seminal paper of Kleene on events in nerve nets and finite automata from 1956. In the present paper we tour a fragment of the literature and summarize results on upper and lower bounds on the conversion of finite automata to regular expressions and vice versa. We also briefly recall the known bounds for the removal of spontaneous transitions (epsilon-transitions) on non-epsilon-free nondeterministic devices. Moreover, we report on recent results on the average case descriptional complexity bounds for the conversion of regular expressions to finite automata and brand new developments on the state elimination algorithm that converts finite automata to regular expressions.Comment: In Proceedings AFL 2014, arXiv:1405.527

Counterexample Generation in Probabilistic Model Checking

Providing evidence for the refutation of a property is an essential, if not the most important, feature of model checking. This paper considers algorithms for counterexample generation for probabilistic CTL formulae in discrete-time Markov chains. Finding the strongest evidence (i.e., the most probable path) violating a (bounded) until-formula is shown to be reducible to a single-source (hop-constrained) shortest path problem. Counterexamples of smallest size that deviate most from the required probability bound can be obtained by applying (small amendments to) k-shortest (hop-constrained) paths algorithms. These results can be extended to Markov chains with rewards, to LTL model checking, and are useful for Markov decision processes. Experimental results show that typically the size of a counterexample is excessive. To obtain much more compact representations, we present a simple algorithm to generate (minimal) regular expressions that can act as counterexamples. The feasibility of our approach is illustrated by means of two communication protocols: leader election in an anonymous ring network and the Crowds protocol

Mutation of Directed Graphs -- Corresponding Regular Expressions and Complexity of Their Generation

Directed graphs (DG), interpreted as state transition diagrams, are traditionally used to represent finite-state automata (FSA). In the context of formal languages, both FSA and regular expressions (RE) are equivalent in that they accept and generate, respectively, type-3 (regular) languages. Based on our previous work, this paper analyzes effects of graph manipulations on corresponding RE. In this present, starting stage we assume that the DG under consideration contains no cycles. Graph manipulation is performed by deleting or inserting of nodes or arcs. Combined and/or multiple application of these basic operators enable a great variety of transformations of DG (and corresponding RE) that can be seen as mutants of the original DG (and corresponding RE). DG are popular for modeling complex systems; however they easily become intractable if the system under consideration is complex and/or large. In such situations, we propose to switch to corresponding RE in order to benefit from their compact format for modeling and algebraic operations for analysis. The results of the study are of great potential interest to mutation testing

Confluent Orthogonal Drawings of Syntax Diagrams

We provide a pipeline for generating syntax diagrams (also called railroad diagrams) from context free grammars. Syntax diagrams are a graphical representation of a context free language, which we formalize abstractly as a set of mutually recursive nondeterministic finite automata and draw by combining elements from the confluent drawing, layered drawing, and smooth orthogonal drawing styles. Within our pipeline we introduce several heuristics that modify the grammar but preserve the language, improving the aesthetics of the final drawing.Comment: GD 201

Syntactic Complexity of Finite/Cofinite, Definite, and Reverse Definite Languages

We study the syntactic complexity of finite/cofinite, definite and reverse definite languages. The syntactic complexity of a class of languages is defined as the maximal size of syntactic semigroups of languages from the class, taken as a function of the state complexity n of the languages. We prove that (n-1)! is a tight upper bound for finite/cofinite languages and that it can be reached only if the alphabet size is greater than or equal to (n-1)!-(n-2)!. We prove that the bound is also (n-1)! for reverse definite languages, but the minimal alphabet size is (n-1)!-2(n-2)!. We show that \lfloor e\cdot (n-1)!\rfloor is a lower bound on the syntactic complexity of definite languages, and conjecture that this is also an upper bound, and that the alphabet size required to meet this bound is \floor{e \cdot (n-1)!} - \floor{e \cdot (n-2)!}. We prove the conjecture for n\le 4.Comment: 10 pages. An error concerning the size of the alphabet has been corrected in Theorem

On Sushchansky p-groups

We study Sushchansky p-groups. We recall the original definition and translate it into the language of automata groups. The original actions of Sushchansky groups on p-ary tree are not level-transitive and we describe their orbit trees. This allows us to simplify the definition and prove that these groups admit faithful level-transitive actions on the same tree. Certain branch structures in their self-similar closures are established. We provide the connection with, so-called, G groups that shows that all Sushchansky groups have intermediate growth and allows to obtain an upper bound on their period growth functions.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Succinct progress measures for solving parity games

The recent breakthrough paper by Calude et al. has given the first algorithm for solving parity games in quasi-polynomial time, where previously the best algorithms were mildly subexponential. We devise an alternative quasi-polynomial time algorithm based on progress measures, which allows us to reduce the space required from quasi-polynomial to nearly linear. Our key technical tools are a novel concept of ordered tree coding, and a succinct tree coding result that we prove using bounded adaptive multi-counters, both of which are interesting in their own right

Unary Pushdown Automata and Straight-Line Programs

We consider decision problems for deterministic pushdown automata over a unary alphabet (udpda, for short). Udpda are a simple computation model that accept exactly the unary regular languages, but can be exponentially more succinct than finite-state automata. We complete the complexity landscape for udpda by showing that emptiness (and thus universality) is P-hard, equivalence and compressed membership problems are P-complete, and inclusion is coNP-complete. Our upper bounds are based on a translation theorem between udpda and straight-line programs over the binary alphabet (SLPs). We show that the characteristic sequence of any udpda can be represented as a pair of SLPs---one for the prefix, one for the lasso---that have size linear in the size of the udpda and can be computed in polynomial time. Hence, decision problems on udpda are reduced to decision problems on SLPs. Conversely, any SLP can be converted in logarithmic space into a udpda, and this forms the basis for our lower bound proofs. We show coNP-hardness of the ordered matching problem for SLPs, from which we derive coNP-hardness for inclusion. In addition, we complete the complexity landscape for unary nondeterministic pushdown automata by showing that the universality problem is $\Pi_2 \mathrm P$-hard, using a new class of integer expressions. Our techniques have applications beyond udpda. We show that our results imply $\Pi_2 \mathrm P$-completeness for a natural fragment of Presburger arithmetic and coNP lower bounds for compressed matching problems with one-character wildcards