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International Conference on Rewriting Techniques and Applications

RTA 2001: Rewriting Techniques and Applications pp 276–290Cite as

Matching with Free Function Symbols — A Simple Extension of Matching?

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2051))

Abstract

Matching is a solving process which is crucial in declarative (rule-based) programming languages. In order to apply rules, one has to match the left-hand side of a rule with the term to be rewritten. In several declarative programming languages, programs involve operators that may also satisfy some structural axioms. Therefore, their evaluation mechanism must implement powerful matching algorithms working modulo equational theories. In this paper, we show the existence of an equational theory where matching is decidable (resp. finitary) but matching in presence of additional (free) operators is undecidable (resp. infinitary). The interest of this result is to easily prove the existence of a frontier between matching and matching with free operators.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LORIA — INRIA, 615, rue du Jardin Botanique, BP 101, 54602, Villers-lés-Nancy Cedex, France

    Christophe Ringeissen

Authors
  1. Christophe Ringeissen
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Information Sciences and Electronics, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, 305-8573, Japan

    Aart Middeldorp

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Ringeissen, C. (2001). Matching with Free Function Symbols — A Simple Extension of Matching?. In: Middeldorp, A. (eds) Rewriting Techniques and Applications. RTA 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2051. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45127-7_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45127-7_21

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42117-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45127-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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