Handbook of Formal Languages

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

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2. Tree Languages

   • Ferenc Gécseg, Magnus Steinby

   Pages 1-68

3. Tree-Adjoining Grammars

   • Aravind K. Joshi, Yves Schabes

   Pages 69-123

4. Context-Free Graph Grammars

   • Joost Engelfriet

   Pages 125-213

5. Two-Dimensional Languages

   • Dora Giammarresi, Antonio Restivo

   Pages 215-267

6. Basics of Term Rewriting

   • Matthias Jantzen

   Pages 269-337

7. ω-Languages

   • Ludwig Staiger

   Pages 339-387

8. Languages, Automata, and Logic

   • Wolfgang Thomas

   Pages 389-455

9. Partial Commutation and Traces

   • Volker Diekert, Yves Métivier

   Pages 457-533

10. Visual Models of Plant Development

    • Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz, Mark Hammel, Jim Hanan, Radomír Měch

    Pages 535-597

11. Digital Images and Formal Languages

    • Karel Culik II, Jarkko Kari

    Pages 599-616

12. Back Matter

    Pages 617-625

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The need for a comprehensive survey-type exposition on formal languages and related mainstream areas of computer science has been evident for some years. In the early 1970s, when . the book Formal Languages by the second­ mentioned editor appeared, it was still quite feasible to write a comprehensive book with that title and include also topics of current research interest. This would not be possible anymore. A standard-sized book on formal languages would either have to stay on a fairly low level or else be specialized and restricted to some narrow sector of the field. The setup becomes drastically different in a collection of contributions, where the best authorities in the world join forces, each of them concentrat­ ing on their own areas of specialization. The present three-volume Handbook constitutes such a unique collection. In these three volumes we present the current state of the art in formal language theory. We were most satisfied with the enthusiastic response given to our request for contributions by specialists representing various subfields. The need for a Handbook of Formal Languages was in many answers expressed in different ways: as an easily accessible his­ torical reference, a general source of information, an overall course-aid, and a compact collection of material for self-study. We are convinced that the final result will satisfy such various needs. The theory of formal languages constitutes the stem or backbone of the field of science now generally known as theoretical computer science.

• computer graphics
• formal language
• formal languages
• logic
• combinatorics

• Department of Computer Science, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

  Grzegorz Rozenberg

• Turku Centre for Computer Science Data City, Turku, Finland

  Arto Salomaa

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