Abstract
Maximal word functions occur in data retrieval applications and have connections with ranking problems, which in turn were first investigated in relation to data compression [21]. By the “maximal word function” of a languageL ⫅ ∑*, we mean the problem of finding, on inputx, the lexicographically largest word belonging toL that is smaller than or equal tox.
In this paper we present a parallel algorithm for computing maximal word functions for languages recognized by one-way nondeterministic auxiliary pushdown automata (and hence for the class of context-free languages).
This paper is a continuation of a stream of research focusing on the problem of identifying properties others than membership which are easily computable for certain classes of languages. For a survey, see [24].
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