12 research outputs found
Constraint Solving over Multiple Similarity Relations
Similarity relations are reflexive, symmetric, and transitive fuzzy relations. They help to make approximate inferences, replacing the notion of equality. Similarity-based unification has been quite intensively investigated, as a core computational method for approximate reasoning and declarative programming. In this paper we consider solving constraints over several similarity relations, instead of a single one. Multiple similarities pose challenges to constraint solving, since we can not rely on the transitivity property anymore. Existing methods for unification with fuzzy proximity relations (reflexive, symmetric, non-transitive relations) do not provide a solution that would adequately reflect particularities of dealing with multiple similarities. To address this problem, we develop a constraint solving algorithm for multiple similarity relations, prove its termination, soundness, and completeness properties, and discuss applications
Regular matching problems for infinite trees
We investigate regular matching problems. The classical reference is Conway's
textbook "Regular algebra and finite machines". Some of his results can be
stated as follows. Let and be
regular languages where is a set of constants and is a set of
variables. Substituting every by a regular subset of
yields a regular set . A substitution
solves a matching problem "?" if .
There are finitely many maximal solutions ; they are effectively
computable and is regular for all ; and every solution is
included in a maximal one. Also, in the case of words
"?" is decidable.
Apart from the last property, we generalize these results to infinite trees.
We define a notion of choice function which for any tree over
and position of a variable selects at most one tree
; next, we define as the limit of a
Cauchy sequence; and the union over all yields .
Since our definition coincides with that for IO substitutions, we write
instead of .
Our main result is the decidability of
"?" if is regular and belongs
to a class of tree languages closed under intersection with regular sets. Such
a special case pops up if is context-free. Note that
"?" is undecidable, in general in that case.
However, the decidability of "?" if both
and are regular remains open because, in contrast to word languages, the
homomorphic image of a regular tree language is not always regular if
is regular for all .Comment: 18 pages. This replacement eliminates a false claim from the previous
arXiv version of this paper: Item 4 of Theorem 1 did not hold for # = {=
Regular matching problems for infinite trees
We study the matching problem of regular tree languages, that is, "?" where are regular tree languages over the
union of finite ranked alphabets and where
is an alphabet of variables and is a substitution such that
is a set of trees in for all . Here, denotes a set of "holes" which are used to define a
"sorted" concatenation of trees. Conway studied this problem in the special
case for languages of finite words in his classical textbook "Regular algebra
and finite machines" published in 1971. He showed that if and are
regular, then the problem "?" is decidable. Moreover,
there are only finitely many maximal solutions, the maximal solutions are
regular substitutions, and they are effectively computable. We extend Conway's
results when are regular languages of finite and infinite trees, and
language substitution is applied inside-out, in the sense of Engelfriet and
Schmidt (1977/78). More precisely, we show that if and are regular tree languages
over finite or infinite trees, then the problem "?" is decidable. Here, the subscript "" in
refers to "inside-out". Moreover, there are only
finitely many maximal solutions , the maximal solutions are regular
substitutions and effectively computable. The corresponding question for the
outside-in extension remains open, even in the
restricted setting of finite trees
Strategies in PRholog
PRholog is an experimental extension of logic programming with strategic
conditional transformation rules, combining Prolog with Rholog calculus. The
rules perform nondeterministic transformations on hedges. Queries may have
several results that can be explored on backtracking. Strategies provide a
control on rule applications in a declarative way. With strategy combinators,
the user can construct more complex strategies from simpler ones. Matching with
four different kinds of variables provides a flexible mechanism of selecting
(sub)terms during execution. We give an overview on programming with strategies
in PRholog and demonstrate how rewriting strategies can be expressed
P-rho-Log: Combining Logic Programming with Conditional Transformation Systems
P-rho-Log extends Prolog by conditional transformations that are controlled by strategies. We give a brief overview of the tool and illustrate its capabilities