Abstract
Properties of individual non-terminal symbols in context-free grammars are of interest in the fields of compiling and artificial intelligence. This paper describes an algorithm which will find, for all the non-terminal symbols in any context-free grammar, the shortest string which consists only of terminal symbols which can be produced from each non-terminal symbol by application of the rules of the grammar.
Keywords
- Production Rule
- Derivation Tree
- Terminal Symbol
- Short String
- Null String
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Seymour Ginsburg, The Mathematical Theory of Context-Free Languages (McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, London, Sydney, 1966)
A. T. Berztiss, Data Structures Theory and Practice (Academic Press Inc., London, New York, 1971)
David Gries, Compiler Construction for Digital Computers (John Wiley & Sons, New York, London, Sydney, Toronto, 1971)
Patrick A. V. Hall, Equivalence between and/or graphs and context-free grammars, Comm. A.C.M. 16(1973) 444–445.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1975 Springer-Verlag
About this paper
Cite this paper
Mclean, M.J., Johnston, D.B. (1975). An algorithm for finding the shortest terminal strings which can be produced from non-terminals in context-free grammars. In: Street, A.P., Wallis, W.D. (eds) Combinatorial Mathematics III. Lecture Notes in Mathematics, vol 452. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0069557
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0069557
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-07154-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-37482-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive
