Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation
11-2012
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
M. Eng.
Department
Computer Engineering and Computer Science
Committee Chair
Chang, Dar-Jen
Author's Keywords
Representation; Isomorphism; Backus-Naur form; Diagrammatic
Subject
Computer science--Charts, diagrams, etc.; Graphic methods; Isotype (Picture language)
Abstract
Computer scientists studying formal languages have made use of a variety of representations to both reason, and communicate their ideas to others. Symbolic representations have proved useful for rigorously defining the theoretical objects of the preceding topics; however, research shows that diagrammatic representations are as fundamental to these subjects. Previous research in this domain has typically been interested in studying the semantics that a particular representation is intended to capture. By contrast, this treatise considers the importance of the format of the representations themselves, and how format influences the ability of a person to uncover characteristics, relevant to the problem domain. More specifically, this thesis investigates the established formalisms that have been devised to describe formal languages, and introduces a novel concept, an augmented syntax graph. This graph, an isomorphism of the Backus-Naur form, is shown to have application in visualizing properties that are pertinent to some parsing algorithms.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Neil A., "Toward an isomorphic diagram of the Backus-Naur form." (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1349.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/1349
