X-VM-v5-Data: ([nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] ["4298" "Tue" "4" "March" "1997" "00:18:44" "-0600" "Randolph J. Herber" "herber@DCDRJH.FNAL.GOV" nil "101" "Re: Shortref mechanism" "^Date:" nil nil "3" nil "Shortref mechanism" nil nil] nil) Received: from listserv.gmd.de (listserv.gmd.de [192.88.97.1]) by mail.Uni-Mainz.DE (8.8.5/8.8.4) with ESMTP id HAA26881; Tue, 4 Mar 1997 07:42:56 +0100 (MET) Received: from listserv.gmd.de by listserv.gmd.de (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.1a) with SMTP id <10.222C618F@listserv.gmd.de>; Tue, 4 Mar 1997 7:42:54 +0100 Received: from RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE by RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8b) with spool id 108424 for LATEX-L@RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE; Tue, 4 Mar 1997 07:42:47 +0100 Received: from dcdrjh.fnal.gov (dcdrjh.fnal.gov [131.225.103.66]) by relay.urz.uni-heidelberg.de (8.7.6/8.7.4) with SMTP id HAA06432 for ; Tue, 4 Mar 1997 07:42:42 +0100 (MET) Received: (from herber@localhost) by dcdrjh.fnal.gov (950413.SGI.8.6.12/950213.SGI.AUTOCF) id AAA03457 for latex-l@relay.urz.uni-heidelberg.de; Tue, 4 Mar 1997 00:18:44 -0600 Message-ID: <199703040618.AAA03457@dcdrjh.fnal.gov> Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 00:18:44 -0600 From: "Randolph J. Herber" Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project To: Multiple recipients of list LATEX-L Subject: Re: Shortref mechanism Status: R X-Status: X-Keywords: X-UID: 1861 The following header lines retained to affect attribution: |Date: Mon, 03 Mar 1997 21:59:39 +0100 |From: haberg@matematik.su.se (Hans Aberg) |Subject: Re: Shortref mechanism |To: LaTeX3 project |Cc: "Randolph J. Herber" |"Randolph J. Herber" wrote: |>|> Please. would you use the proper nomenclature? |>|> The pairing from your improper nomenclature to what I believe |>|> is the pertinent nomenclature for what you are attempting to |>|> discuss is: |>|> deterministic ==> context free |>|> non-deterministic ==> context sensitive | I get a lot of (very long) letters of this kind, demanding that I should |use this or other terminology. Ipse dixit. | I have an old book, "Compilers", by Robin Hunter, that on page 40 defines |the notions "nondetermistic/deterministic parser" as whether of one can go |back on the decision in the parsing process, or not. This is what I mean. Your reference, Robin Hunter, probably used the phrase ``deterministic grammar'' in the sense of being unambiguous. This is separate from whether the grammar is context sensitive. It is possible for a context sensitive grammar to be ambiguous. The class of change that you are proposing involves a change from a context free to a context sensitive grammar for TeX. My basis is the following: Arto Salomaa, Theory of Automata, Pergamon, Oxford, 1969. David Gries, Compiler Construcion for Digital Computers, John Wiley, 1971, ISBN 0-471-32776-X. Alfred V. Aho and Jeffery D. Ullman, Principles of Compiler Design, Addison Wesley, 1977, ISBN 0-201-00022-9. Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi and Jeffrey D. Ullman, Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools, Addison Wesley, 1986, ISBN 0-201-10088-6. Allen I. Holub, Compiler Design in C, Prentice-Hall, 1990, ISBN 0-13-155045-4. *Axel T. Schreiner and H. George Friedman, Jr., Introduction to Compiler Construction with UNIX, Prentice Hall, 1985, ISBN 0-13-474396-2. William M. McKeeman, James J. Horning, David B. Wortman, A Compiler Generator, Prentice Hall, 1970, ISBN 0-13-155077-2. **P.M. Lewis II, D.J. Rosenkrantz and R.E.Stearns, Compiler Design Theory, Addison Wesley, 1978, ISBN 0-201-14455-7. Charles N. Fischer and Richard J. LeBlanc, Jr., Crafting a Compiler, Benjamin/Cummings, 1988, ISBN 0-8053-3201-4. *William M. Waite and Gerhard Goos, Compiler Construction, Springer-Verlag, 1984-1985, ISBN 0-387-90821-8. * This book happens to use the adjective ``deterministic'' in the sense of ``unambiguous''. ** This book happens to use the adjective ``deterministic'' applied to parsing in the sense that a stack (pushdown) machine is used to implement the parser or to recognize the language. Several of these books have an extensive bibliography. None of these bibliography mention your reference. Many of them refer to the books which preceeded them. | On page 231, a "context sensitive parser" is described as a method to |handle a attribute grammars, and the like. This is not what I have in mind. This refers to a parser. I had been refering to context free languages and grammars. ``Attribute grammars'' are concerned with semantics. At the level of semantics all compiler and interpreters which process meaning, which attribute grammers must, must be context sensitive. | Otherwise, I do not understand how this or other terminology can solve |the problems discussed here. It _may_ help solve problems in communication. | Hans Aberg Randolph J. Herber, herber@dcdrjh.fnal.gov, +1 630 840 2966, CD/OSS/CDF CDF-PK-149O Mail Stop 234 Fermilab, Kirk & Pine Rds., P.O. Box 500, Batavia, IL 60190-0500. (Speaking for myself and not for US, US DOE, FNAL nor URA.) (Product, trade, or service marks herein belong to their respective owners.) N 41 50 26.3 W 88 14 54.4 and altitude 700' approximately, WGS84 datum.