[comp.compilers] Query on Path Problems

larus@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (02/05/88)

Robert Tarjan published a pair of papers in the JACM (July 1981) on
path problems and data flow analysis.  Has anyone implemented his algorithms
and compared their space and runtime requirements with conventional data flow
algorithms?  Is anyone aware of a paper on this subject?

For those who haven't read the papers (which I highly recommend), Tarjan
showed how to efficiently construct a regular expression that describes
the set of possible paths in a control flow graph.  A data flow problem
can be solved by giving a non-standard interpretation to the operators
(".", "|", and "*") in the expression.  It is not actually necessary to
construct the expression, though it may be of benefit if more than one
problem is to be solved on the same graph.

Thanks,
/Jim

ARPANet: larus@ginger.Berkeley.EDU
uucp: ucbvax!larus
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