使用树自动机和正则表达式处理层次结构数据
Using Tree Automata and Regular Expressions to Manipulate Hierarchically Structured Data
摘要：
以数字形式存储或传输的信息通常是结构化的。单个数据记录通常表示为其元素的层次结构。记录一起形成更大的结构。信息处理应用程序必须考虑这种结构化，它为不同的数据元素或记录分配不同的语义。当今使用的各种结构模式通常需要应用程序具有很大的灵活性-例如，处理来自不同来源的信息。为了确保应用程序的互操作性，需要能够将一种结构转换为另一种结构的转换器。本文提出了一种形式化的数据模型，旨在以一种简单而灵活的方式支持层次化的数据处理。该模型是基于和扩展的两个经典理论，研究有限字符串和树自动机的结果。有限自动机和正则语言的概念被应用到任意结构的树状层次数据记录的情况下，表示为“结构化字符串”。这些自动机与经典的字符串和树自动机进行了比较;该模型被证明是经典模型的超集。介绍了结构化字符串上的正则文法和表达式。正则表达式匹配和替换已广泛用于高效的非结构化文本处理;这里描述的模型将这种经过验证的技术的强大功能带到了处理信息树的应用程序中。一个简单的通用替代方案，以取代今天的专门特设的方法。该模型统一了结构转换和内容转换，为应用程序提供了单一的数据类型。讨论了如何基于该理论构建应用程序的示例场景。进一步的研究方向进行了概述。
英文摘要：
Information, stored or transmitted in digital form, is often structured. Individual data records are usually represented as hierarchies of their elements. Together, records form larger structures. Information processing applications have to take account of this structuring, which assigns different semantics to different data elements or records. Big variety of structural schemata in use today often requires much flexibility from applications--for example, to process information coming from different sources. To ensure application interoperability, translators are needed that can convert one structure into another. This paper puts forward a formal data model aimed at supporting hierarchical data processing in a simple and flexible way. The model is based on and extends results of two classical theories, studying finite string and tree automata. The concept of finite automata and regular languages is applied to the case of arbitrarily structured tree-like hierarchical data records, represented as "structured strings." These automata are compared with classical string and tree automata; the model is shown to be a superset of the classical models. Regular grammars and expressions over structured strings are introduced. Regular expression matching and substitution has been widely used for efficient unstructured text processing; the model described here brings the power of this proven technique to applications that deal with information trees. A simple generic alternative is offered to replace today's specialised ad-hoc approaches. The model unifies structural and content transformations, providing applications with a single data type. An example scenario of how to build applications based on this theory is discussed. Further research directions are outlined.
机构、总结、中文摘要均由AI分析而来，可能存在错误，请以论文正文为准。
