Abstract
We introduce a notion of rewrite rules operating on a particular class of data-structures, represented as (cyclic) term-graphs. All basic transformations are available: node creation/deletion, node relabeling and edge redirections (including global redirections). This allows one to write algorithms handling pointers that cannot be efficiently specified using existing declarative languages. Such rewrite systems are not confluent in general, even if we stick to orthogonal, left-linear rules. In order to ensure unique normal forms, we introduce a notion of priority ordering between the nodes, which allows the programmer to control the normalization of a graph if needed. The use of total priority orderings makes rewriting purely deterministic, which is not always efficient in practice. To overcome this issue, we then show how to define more flexible strategies, which yield shorter derivations and avoid useless rewriting steps (lazy rewriting).
This work has been partly funded by the project ARROWS of the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche.
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Echahed, R., Peltier, N. (2007). Non Strict Confluent Rewrite Systems for Data-Structures with Pointers. In: Baader, F. (eds) Term Rewriting and Applications. RTA 2007. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 4533. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73449-9_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-73449-9_12
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