An efficient implementation of graph grammars based on the RETE matching algorithm

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the efficient determination of the set of productions of a graph grammar that are applicable in one rewriting step. We propose a new algorithm that is a generalization of a similar algorithm originally developed for forward chaining production systems. The time complexity of the proposed method is not better than that of a naive solution, in the worst case. In the best case, however, a significant speedup can be achieved. Some experiments supporting the results of a theoretical complexity analysis are described.