Hyperedge Replacement: Grammars and Languages

The area of graph grammars is theoretically attractive and
well motivated byvarious applications. More than 20 years
ago, the concept of graph grammars was introduced by A.
Rosenfeld as a formulation of some problems in            pattern
recognition and image processing, as well as by H. J.
Schneider   as a method for data type specification. Within
graph-grammar theory one maydistinguish the set-theoretical
approach, the algebraic approach, and the   logical approach.
These approaches differ in the method in which                  graph
replacement is described. Specific approaches,
node replacement   and hyperedge replacement, concern the
basic units of a hypergraph, nodes   and hyperedges.
This monograph is mainly concerned with                              the
hyperedge-replacement approach. Hyperedge-replacement
grammars are   introduced as a device for generating
hypergraph languages including graph   languages and string
languages. The concept combines a context-free            rewriting
with a comparatively large generative power. The                           volume
includes a foreword by H. Ehrig.