Nonterminal
In computer science, terminal and nonterminal symbols are the lexical elements used in specifying the production rules constituting a formal grammar. ''Terminal symbols'' are the elementary symbols of the language defined by a formal grammar. ''Nonterminal symbols'' (or ''syntactic variables'') are replaced by groups of terminal symbols according to the production rules. The terminals and nonterminals of a particular grammar are two disjoint sets. Terminal symbols Terminal symbols are literal symbols that may appear in the outputs of the production rules of a formal grammar and which cannot be changed using the rules of the grammar. Applying the rules recursively to a source string of symbols will usually terminate in a final output string consisting only of terminal symbols. Consider a grammar defined by two rules. Using pictoric marks interacting with each other: # The symbol ר can become ди # The symbol ר can become д Here д is a terminal symbol because no rule ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Context-free Grammar
In formal language theory, a context-free grammar (CFG) is a formal grammar whose production rules are of the form :A\ \to\ \alpha with A a ''single'' nonterminal symbol, and \alpha a string of terminals and/or nonterminals (\alpha can be empty). A formal grammar is "context-free" if its production rules can be applied regardless of the context of a nonterminal. No matter which symbols surround it, the single nonterminal on the left hand side can always be replaced by the right hand side. This is what distinguishes it from a context-sensitive grammar. A formal grammar is essentially a set of production rules that describe all possible strings in a given formal language. Production rules are simple replacements. For example, the first rule in the picture, :\langle\text\rangle \to \langle\text\rangle = \langle\text\rangle ; replaces \langle\text\rangle with \langle\text\rangle = \langle\text\rangle ;. There can be multiple replacement rules for a given nonterminal symbol. The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Formal Grammar
In formal language theory, a grammar (when the context is not given, often called a formal grammar for clarity) describes how to form strings from a language's alphabet that are valid according to the language's syntax. A grammar does not describe the meaning of the strings or what can be done with them in whatever context—only their form. A formal grammar is defined as a set of production rules for such strings in a formal language. Formal language theory, the discipline that studies formal grammars and languages, is a branch of applied mathematics. Its applications are found in theoretical computer science, theoretical linguistics, formal semantics, mathematical logic, and other areas. A formal grammar is a set of rules for rewriting strings, along with a "start symbol" from which rewriting starts. Therefore, a grammar is usually thought of as a language generator. However, it can also sometimes be used as the basis for a "recognizer"—a function in computing that deter ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Backus–Naur Form
In computer science, Backus–Naur form () or Backus normal form (BNF) is a metasyntax notation for context-free grammars, often used to describe the syntax of languages used in computing, such as computer programming languages, document formats, instruction sets and communication protocols. It is applied wherever exact descriptions of languages are needed: for instance, in official language specifications, in manuals, and in textbooks on programming language theory. Many extensions and variants of the original Backus–Naur notation are used; some are exactly defined, including extended Backus–Naur form (EBNF) and augmented Backus–Naur form (ABNF). Overview A BNF specification is a set of derivation rules, written as ::= __expression__ where: * is a ''nonterminal'' (variable) and the __expression__ consists of one or more sequences of either terminal or nonterminal symbols; * means that the symbol on the left must be replaced with the expression on the right. * mor ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Push Down Automaton
In the theory of computation, a branch of theoretical computer science, a pushdown automaton (PDA) is a type of automaton that employs a stack. Pushdown automata are used in theories about what can be computed by machines. They are more capable than finite-state machines but less capable than Turing machines (see below). Deterministic pushdown automata can recognize all deterministic context-free languages while nondeterministic ones can recognize all context-free languages, with the former often used in parser design. The term "pushdown" refers to the fact that the stack can be regarded as being "pushed down" like a tray dispenser at a cafeteria, since the operations never work on elements other than the top element. A stack automaton, by contrast, does allow access to and operations on deeper elements. Stack automata can recognize a strictly larger set of languages than pushdown automata. A nested stack automaton allows full access, and also allows stacked values to be ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Production (computer Science)
A production or production rule in computer science is a '' rewrite rule'' specifying a symbol substitution that can be recursively performed to generate new symbol sequences. A finite set of productions P is the main component in the specification of a formal grammar (specifically a generative grammar). The other components are a finite set N of nonterminal symbols, a finite set (known as an alphabet) \Sigma of terminal symbols that is disjoint from N and a distinguished symbol S \in N that is the ''start symbol''. In an unrestricted grammar, a production is of the form u \to v, where u and v are arbitrary strings of terminals and nonterminals, and u may not be the empty string. If v is the empty string, this is denoted by the symbol \epsilon, or \lambda (rather than leave the right-hand side blank). So productions are members of the cartesian product :V^*NV^* \times V^* = (V^*\setminus\Sigma^*) \times V^*, where V := N \cup \Sigma is the ''vocabulary'', ^ is the Kleene star o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Production (computer Science)
A production or production rule in computer science is a '' rewrite rule'' specifying a symbol substitution that can be recursively performed to generate new symbol sequences. A finite set of productions P is the main component in the specification of a formal grammar (specifically a generative grammar). The other components are a finite set N of nonterminal symbols, a finite set (known as an alphabet) \Sigma of terminal symbols that is disjoint from N and a distinguished symbol S \in N that is the ''start symbol''. In an unrestricted grammar, a production is of the form u \to v, where u and v are arbitrary strings of terminals and nonterminals, and u may not be the empty string. If v is the empty string, this is denoted by the symbol \epsilon, or \lambda (rather than leave the right-hand side blank). So productions are members of the cartesian product :V^*NV^* \times V^* = (V^*\setminus\Sigma^*) \times V^*, where V := N \cup \Sigma is the ''vocabulary'', ^ is the Kleene star o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Syntactic Structures
''Syntactic Structures'' is an influential work in linguistics by American linguist Noam Chomsky, originally published in 1957. It is an elaboration of his teacher Zellig Harris's model of transformational generative grammar. A short monograph of about a hundred pages, Chomsky's presentation is recognized as one of the most significant studies of the 20th century. It contains the now-famous sentence " Colorless green ideas sleep furiously", which Chomsky offered as an example of a grammatically correct sentence that has no discernible meaning. Thus, Chomsky argued for the independence of syntax (the study of sentence structures) from semantics (the study of meaning).From :"...such semantic notions as reference, significance, and synonymity played no role in the discussion." Based on lecture notes he had prepared for his students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Chomsky's first book presented contemporary developments in early generative grammar. The approach to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Computer Science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical disciplines (including the design and implementation of Computer architecture, hardware and Computer programming, software). Computer science is generally considered an area of research, academic research and distinct from computer programming. Algorithms and data structures are central to computer science. The theory of computation concerns abstract models of computation and general classes of computational problem, problems that can be solved using them. The fields of cryptography and computer security involve studying the means for secure communication and for preventing Vulnerability (computing), security vulnerabilities. Computer graphics (computer science), Computer graphics and computational geometry address the generation of images. Progr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kleene Star
In mathematical logic and computer science, the Kleene star (or Kleene operator or Kleene closure) is a unary operation, either on sets of strings or on sets of symbols or characters. In mathematics, it is more commonly known as the free monoid construction. The application of the Kleene star to a set V is written as ''V^*''. It is widely used for regular expressions, which is the context in which it was introduced by Stephen Kleene to characterize certain automata, where it means "zero or more repetitions". # If V is a set of strings, then ''V^*'' is defined as the smallest superset of V that contains the empty string \varepsilon and is closed under the string concatenation operation. # If V is a set of symbols or characters, then ''V^*'' is the set of all strings over symbols in V, including the empty string \varepsilon. The set ''V^*'' can also be described as the set containing the empty string and all finite-length strings that can be generated by concatenating arbitrary e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Recursive Grammar
In computer science, a grammar is informally called a recursive grammar if it contains production rules that are recursive, meaning that expanding a non-terminal according to these rules can eventually lead to a string that includes the same non-terminal again. Otherwise it is called a non-recursive grammar.. For example, a grammar for a context-free language is left recursive if there exists a non-terminal symbol ''A'' that can be put through the production rules to produce a string with ''A'' (as the leftmost symbol). All types of grammars in the Chomsky hierarchy can be recursive and it is recursion that allows the production of infinite sets of words. Properties A non-recursive grammar can produce only a finite language; and each finite language can be produced by a non-recursive grammar. For example, a straight-line grammar produces just a single word. A recursive context-free grammar that contains no useless rules necessarily produces an infinite language. This property fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Phrase Structure Grammar
The term phrase structure grammar was originally introduced by Noam Chomsky as the term for grammar studied previously by Emil Post and Axel Thue (Post canonical systems). Some authors, however, reserve the term for more restricted grammars in the Chomsky hierarchy: context-sensitive grammars or context-free grammars. In a broader sense, phrase structure grammars are also known as ''constituency grammars''. The defining trait of phrase structure grammars is thus their adherence to the constituency relation, as opposed to the dependency relation of dependency grammars. Constituency relation In linguistics, phrase structure grammars are all those grammars that are based on the constituency relation, as opposed to the dependency relation associated with dependency grammars; hence, phrase structure grammars are also known as constituency grammars. Any of several related theories for the parsing of natural language qualify as constituency grammars, and most of them have been develope ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rewriting System
In mathematics, computer science, and logic, rewriting covers a wide range of methods of replacing subterms of a formula with other terms. Such methods may be achieved by rewriting systems (also known as rewrite systems, rewrite engines, or reduction systems). In their most basic form, they consist of a set of objects, plus relations on how to transform those objects. Rewriting can be non-deterministic. One rule to rewrite a term could be applied in many different ways to that term, or more than one rule could be applicable. Rewriting systems then do not provide an algorithm for changing one term to another, but a set of possible rule applications. When combined with an appropriate algorithm, however, rewrite systems can be viewed as computer programs, and several theorem provers and declarative programming languages are based on term rewriting. Example cases Logic In logic, the procedure for obtaining the conjunctive normal form (CNF) of a formula can be implemented as a r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |