NAME

FLAT - Formal Language & Automata Toolkit

SYNOPSIS

FLAT.pm is the base class of all regular language objects. For more information, see other POD pages.

USAGE

All regular language objects in FLAT implement the following methods. Specific regular language representations (regex, NFA, DFA) may implement additional methods that are outlined in the repsective POD pages.

Conversions Among Representations

$lang->as_nfa

$lang->as_dfa

$lang->as_min_dfa

$lang->as_regex

Returns an equivalent regular language to $lang in the desired representation. Does not modify $lang (even if $lang is already in the desired representation).

For more information on the specific algorithms used in these conversions, see the POD pages for a specific representation.

Closure Properties

$lang1->union($lang2, $lang3, ... )

$lang1->intersect($lang2, $lang3, ... )

$lang1->concat($lang2, $lang3, ... )

$lang1->symdiff($lang2, $lang3, ... )

Returns a regular language object that is the union, intersection, concatenation, or symmetric difference of $lang1 ... $langN, respectively. The return value will have the same representation (regex, NFA, or DFA) as $lang1.

$lang1->difference($lang2)

Returns a regular language object that is the set difference of $lang1 and $lang2. Equivalent to

$lang1->intersect($lang2->complement)

The return value will have the same representation (regex, NFA, or DFA) as $lang1.

$lang->kleene

$lang->star

Returns a regular language object for the Kleene star of $lang. The return value will have the same representation (regex, NFA, or DFA) as $lang.

$lang->complement

Returns a regular language object for the complement of $lang. The return value will have the same representation (regex, NFA, or DFA) as $lang.

$lang->reverse

Returns a regular language object for the stringwise reversal of $lang. The return value will have the same representation (regex, NFA, or DFA) as $lang.

Decision Properties

$lang->is_finite

$lang->is_infinite

Returns a boolean value indicating whether $lang represents a finite/infinite language.

$lang->is_empty

Returns a boolean value indicating whether $lang represents the empty language.

$lang1->equals($lang2)

Returns a boolean value indicating whether $lang1 and $lang2 are representations of the same language.

$lang1->is_subset_of($lang2)

Returns a boolean value indicating whether $lang1 is a subset of $lang2.

$lang->contains($string)

Returns a boolean value indicating whether $string is in the language represented by $lang.

AUTHORS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FLAT is written by Mike Rosulek <mike at mikero dot com> and Brett Estrade <estradb at gmail dot com>.

The initial version (FLAT::Legacy) by Brett Estrade was work towards an MS thesis at the University of Southern Mississippi.

LICENSE

This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

MORE INFO

Please visit the Wiki at http://www.0x743.com/flat