Abstract
A pattern is a string of constant and variable symbols. The language generated by a pattern π is the set of all strings of constant symbols which can be obtained from π by substituting non-empty strings for variables. We study the learnability of one-variable pattern languages in the limit with respect to the update time needed for computing a new single guess and the expected total learning time taken until convergence to a correct hypothesis. The results obtained are threefold. First, we design a consistent and set-driven learner that, using the concept of descriptive patterns, achieves update time O(n 2 log n), where n is the size of the input sample. The best previously known algorithm to compute descriptive one-variable patterns requires time O(n 4 log n) (cf. Angluin [1]). Second, we give a parallel version of this algorithm requiring time O(log n) and O(n 3/log n) processors on an EREW-PRAM. Third, we devise a one-variable pattern learner whose expected total learning time is O(l 2 log l) provided the sample strings are drawn from the target language according to a probability distribution D with expected string length l. The distribution D must be such that strings of equal length have equal probability, but can be arbitrary otherwise. Thus, we establish the first one-variable pattern learner having an expected total learning time that provably differs from the update time by a constant factor only.
Finally, we apply the algorithm for finding descriptive one-variable patterns to learn one-variable patterns with a polynomial number of superset queries with respect to the one-variable patterns as query language.
A full version of this paper is available as technical report (cf. [4]).
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Erlebach, T., Rossmanith, P., Stadtherr, H., Steger, A., Zeugmann, T. (1997). Learning one-variable pattern languages very efficiently on average, in parallel, and by asking queries. In: Li, M., Maruoka, A. (eds) Algorithmic Learning Theory. ALT 1997. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1316. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-63577-7_48
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-63577-7_48
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