The synthesizer generator: a system for constructing language-based editors
The synthesizer generator: a system for constructing language-based editors
Eli: a complete, flexible compiler construction system
Communications of the ACM
Journal of the ACM (JACM)
The intrinsically exponential complexity of the circularity problem for attribute grammars
Communications of the ACM
Proceedings of the 21st annual ACM SIGPLAN conference on Object-oriented programming systems, languages, and applications
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Attribute grammars (AGs) are a formal technique for defining semantics of programming languages. Existing complexity proofs on the circularity problem of AGs are based on automata theory, such as writing pushdown acceptor and alternating Turing machines. They reduced the acceptance problems of above automata, which are exponential-time (EXPTIME) complete, to the AG circularity problem. These proofs thus show that the circularity problem is EXPTIME-hard, at least as hard as the most difficult problems in EXPTIME. However, none has shown that the problem is EXPTIME-complete. This paper presents an alternating Turing machine for the circularity problem. The alternating Turing machine requires polynomial space. Thus, the circularity problem is in EXPTIME and is then EXPTIME-complete.