PAAAAAR@CALSTATE.BITNET (Dick Botting) (11/23/89)
I wouldn't ask this but I am running out of time and resources and want to
give credit where credit is due.
Is there a published source for a topology
used to prove properties of context free grammars by
defining a map from a non-commutative ring of formal power
series into the set of languages on a given alphabet,
and then defining a particular metric space on the ring.
This allows the discussion of the idea of convergent iterative processes
as a model of context free grammars.
I found it in my notes from a postgraduate "Languages and Automata"
course taught by Dr. Lerner sometime between 1968 and 1970, at Queen
Mary College, London, UK. My notes don't include a reference to his
source and he died some years ago.
I've searched recent books, Math Reviews, some encyclopedias, etc
but haven't recognized this technique anywhere.
I'm also interested in two questions
(1) Is there is a published connection with the function spaces
used for denotational semantics by Dana Scott?
(2) I have constructed a similar topology for languages without using
the ring - Have I just reinvented the wheel?
Dr. Richard J. Botting,
Department computer science,
California State University, San Bernardino.
PAAAAAR@CCS.CSUSCC.CALSTATE
paaaaar@calstate.bitnet
PAAAAAR%CALSTATE.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
dick@silicon.sb.csu.not_yet_connected
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May you have fun and work hard, and not know the difference
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