Typing of graph transformation units

Abstract

The concept of graph transformation units in its original sense is a structuring principle for graph transformation systems which allows the interleaving of rule applications with calls of imported units in a controlled way. The semantics of a graph transformation unit is a binary relation on an underlying type of graphs. In order to get a flexible typing mechanism for transformation units and a high degree of parallelism this paper introduces typed graph transformation units that transform k-tuples of typed input graphs into l-tuples of typed output graphs in a controlled and structured way. The transformation of the typed graph tuples is performed with actions that apply graph transformation rules and imported typed units simultaneously to the graphs of a tuple. The transformation process is controlled with control conditions and with graph tuple class expressions. The new concept of typed graph transformation units is illustrated with examples from the area of string parsing with finite automata. © Springer-Verlag 2004.