Tracking down the origins of ambiguity in context-free grammars

Authors:
H. J. S. Basten
Affiliations:
Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Venue:
ICTAC'10 Proceedings of the 7th International colloquium conference on Theoretical aspects of computing
Year:
2010

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Abstract

Context-free grammars are widely used but still hindered by ambiguity. This stresses the need for detailed detection methods that point out the sources of ambiguity in a grammar. In this paper we show how the approximative Noncanonical Unambiguity Test by Schmitz can be extended to conservatively identify production rules that do not contribute to the ambiguity of a grammar. We prove the correctness of our approach and consider its practical applicability.