JPS62274428A - Syntax lead type input guide method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the terminal-side interface while testing the convenience for use of a user-side terminal equipment by performing conversations between a computer and the user in the menu system for syntax generation. CONSTITUTION:A given grammar is defined as G(P,S,VN,VT), and a non-terminal symbol VN is divided into an explicit non-terminal symbol VEN and an implicit non-terminal symbol VIN. The explicit non-terminal symbol VEN can be expressed in a guide menu but the implicit non-terminal symbol VIN cannot be expressed there. The non-terminal symbol VN is VENUVIN where VENVIN is phi, and the part of a product set is empty, and the grammar G becomes G(P,S,VENUVIN,Vr), but the implicit non-terminal symbol VIN is not expressed. The number of stages of symbol in a grammar G'(P,S,VEN,Vr) is smaller than that in the grammar G(P,S,VENUVIN,Vr). Consequently, the number of guide steps is reduced if the grammar G is guided by the grammar G'.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] 3. Detailed Description of the Invention - [Field of Application of the Invention] The present invention provides a method for ensuring that when a computer user inputs a formal language to make the computer function, the input is performed correctly. This paper relates to a syntax-driven input guidance method for guiding users.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, as a method of inducing interaction between a computer and a computer user, for example, as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-29156, when inducing input of a source program, a fixed structure that does not require changes in the syntax of the program is used. There have been devices that complete the source program by automatically displaying the portions on a display device and requiring the operator to input only other selectable syntax element portions.

[Problem to be solved]

According to the above-mentioned conventional technology, a program can be input easily by following the guidance of a menu listing variable parts in the program syntax. However, that device did not mention how to create a syntax element menu using the syntax rule level of a formal language. Additionally, this type of system requires a large number of program input steps for guidance, and has the problem that menu selection is troublesome.

In view of the descriptive situation, the present invention focuses on the use of syntactic rules defined in stages using syntactic element sequences of formal languages and their relationships. Then, a list of inputtable syntax elements corresponding to the first syntax rule is displayed in order, and the operator is prompted to select the syntax element he or she wants to input from the list. By this.

To provide a syntax-driven input guidance method that can eliminate and omit unnecessary guidance steps as much as possible and ensure correct input guidance in an interactive manner between a user and a computer to the minimum necessary extent.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, the syntax-driven input guidance method according to the present invention is applicable to a computer system that receives input data from a terminal device, organizes the display of the input data based on this data, and ensures that correct input data is guided from the operator. , is characterized by the following points.

(1) A process of preparing in advance a syntax element string and a syntax rule defined using these relationships, displaying the syntax elements forming the content of the syntax rule to the operator according to the input possible stages, and selecting the syntax element. step, displaying the syntax rules for the next input step according to the syntactic element selected by the operator, and displaying the corresponding syntactic elements for the next step that can be inputted to the operator, and then gradually The formal language for computers can now be input completely.

(2) Among the above syntactic elements, the process of classifying and distinguishing elements included in non-terminal symbols into implicit non-terminal symbols and implicit non-terminal symbols according to their characteristics, degeneracy and grammar that always omit implicit non-terminal symbols In order to display the syntactic rules, the syntactic elements that omit the syntactic elements corresponding to the implied non-terminal symbols are made into a selectable syntactic element menu corresponding to the syntactic rules,
By inducing the next stage degenerate grammar syntax rules or syntax rules step by step, the number of induction stages during input data guidance is reduced.

[Effect]

The contents and actions performed in each step will be described below using symbols for convenience.

This kind of formal notation is B N F (B ackus
Since there is NaurFor+I+), it depends on this. Here, when expressing the contents of the left side, an arrow → is used to indicate that the left side is the right side, but since the key board used for terminal equipment for input to calculators usually does not have an arrow →, the - symbol It combines the and > symbols, and uses -> as a substitute for the arrow →.

The left side is the syntax rules, which specify the order of syntactic elements. Syntactic elements are represented on the right side.

First, the method of formal definition of grammar described below is used as a method of describing the procedure of interactive exchange between an operator operating an input terminal device and a computer that responds to the input data.

The alphabet is a finite set that is not empty φ, and its elements are called symbols. An arbitrary string of symbols belonging to each alphabet is called a symbol string.

A description of syntactic rules is called a production rule, and U->
X...described as (1). Here, U is a symbol and X is a symbol string, and U is called the left side of the production rule and X is called the right side. Also, the rule for this generation is “
The symbol U consists of the symbol string X."

If we call the set of production rules P, the symbol that appears on the left side of the production rule the nonterminal symbol VN, and the symbol in the symbol string that appears only on the right side the terminal symbol vT, then from the relationship between these described symbols,
Grammar G is defined in the following format.

That is, if the symbol S is the starting symbol and its relationship with the non-terminal symbol is 56Vs, then G= (P, S, Vll, VT) ・=
(2) becomes.

Here, the terminal symbol VT is a symbol for multiplication, addition, etc. ×
, 10, etc., are final symbols, and the non-terminal symbol VN is a symbol that abstracts a partial idea obtained by decomposing the contents of the 7 terminal symbols.

Therefore, the syntax rule represented by the symbol V is the union of seven terminal symbols and the non-terminal symbol VN, and V=V N U V
It is T. The closure of ■ will be written as v.

Hereinafter, it will be written as the grammar G';tG (P, S, VN, Vt).

For example, the input induced state can be written as follows.

If the content of symbol Z is a symbol string X, A, Y, and symbol Y is a YEV umbrella, then Z->X-AY (X, YtEV*)...
(3) What is the guidance menu (A) to guide you regarding symbol A in this state?

Meni: L, -(A) = (alA->a, AεVNI
a E V umbrella)...(4) It can be defined as.

In this way, a menu for inducing syntactic elements X, A, and Y of Z necessary for the syntactic rules of grammar G is prepared in advance and stored in an input/output buffer memory or the like. Then, the operator arbitrarily selects one of the elements on the left side shown in menu (A) to advance the input guidance state one step forward. A method of guiding the operator's input by repeating this process is called a syntax-driven input guidance method.

In the syntax-driven input guidance method described above, a guidance menu is simply created from one grammar. Therefore, this alone
As the number of stages of production rules increases, the number of induction stages also tends to increase.

Therefore, we will further introduce the following method.

Let the given grammar be G (P + S @ VNI VT
).

The nonterminal symbol VN is divided into an explicit nonterminal symbol VEN and an implicit nonterminal symbol VIN.

The explicit nonterminal VEN may appear in the guided menu, while the other implicit nonterminal VIN does not appear in the guided menu.

The non-terminal symbol Vs is.

Vs=VEsUVrs.

However, since V EN nV I'N =φ, the intersection set part is empty.

Shitagatte, grammar G is G (P, S, V2*LJV
rN + VT), but the implicit nonterminal symbol VIN is not expressed as described above. A grammar in which VIN is not expressed is called a degenerate grammar G', and G'(P + S I
VI:N.

VT).

Grammar G' (P, S, VENt Vt) is grammar G
(P.

S, VENLJ VIN, Vt) The number of symbol stages has been reduced. This means that the number of stages of the production rule decreases □
Therefore, if the grammar G is derived using the grammar G', the number of guidance steps can be reduced.

However, among the non-terminal symbols VN, symbols that are recursively defined so that the symbol on the left side of the production rule can also be directly referenced on the right side cause an error in the zero grammar that cannot be deleted from the production rule. Therefore, a nonterminal symbol VN with direct recursive use cannot be separated into an implicit nonterminal symbol VIN. In other words, the implicit non-terminal symbol Vts cannot be replaced with the explicit non-terminal symbol VEN. Therefore, in this case, it is not possible to derive all the degenerate grammars in the form of the reduced grammar G'.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

An example of a syntax-driven input guidance method is shown in FIG. A in the figure is a computer, 18 inside the computer is production rule data that defines the syntax of the target language, and 2a is a control unit that controls syntax-driven input guidance. B is an input terminal device,
3b is a CRT display (Cathode Ra
y Tube Display), 4b is a list of inputtable syntax elements displayed on the CRT display 3b (
5b is a keyboard for operation.

For example, when the current item to be input is <sentence>, the syntax-driven input guidance control unit 2a refers to the production rule data 1a, and the items that can be input at this time are <selected sentence> and repeated sentence>. , detects and displays the presence of a <conjunctive sentence>. Then, these are displayed on the CRT display 3b of the terminal device B as a syntax menu. The user selects and inputs the desired item using the keyboard 5b using its function keys.

In the syntax-driven input guidance method, depth first (Depth
-First), Width-
There are step-by-step algorithms such as First).

Figure 2 shows a flowchart of the syntax-driven input guiding method procedure using the Digisphere 1-type algorithm. The production rule is expressed as a grammar G (P y S + Vsv V
t) d) and perform initial settings to start syntax-driven input guidance from the production rule.

Next, in step 2, the rules of step 1 are followed, and syntax-driven input guidance is performed.

Since the input guidance in step 2 is performed using a one-way menu, menu creation and selection are performed between the computer and the operator. This is shown in the next step 3 and below.

In step 3, the grammar G to which the production rule S'->S has been added is taken and the number of syntactic elements of the syntactic rules that one grammar G has is set. For example, the number of symbols Y (syntax elements) on the right side for the symbol X (nonterminal symbol) on the left side of the production rule is set to variable N.

If we write this formally, X->Ytt Yz+...
・Become like Y/N.

In step 4, the syntax elements expanded in step 3 are displayed in a menu format, and in order to sequentially process each step-by-step process of selecting the syntax elements, a variable is assigned to store the number of selection processes. Let this variable be i and set it to 1, so i
(It is -1.

In step 5, the symbol Y on the right side of the production rule determines whether the non-terminal symbol VN is a terminal symbol VT. If it is a non-terminal symbol VN, proceed to the next step 6 or later, and if it is a terminal symbol VT, no further constituent elements Since I don't have it, I pass it on to step 9.

The steps from step 6 onwards to step 8 will be explained later.

Step 9 is a step of determining whether all the derivation processing of the variable N of the symbol Y on the right side has been completed, and the termination condition (i≦N) is
If the condition is satisfied, the guidance processing procedure (from step 6 onwards to step 8) is completed and the process waits for the next grammar G. If not, the number of repetitions is incremented by 1 in step 10, control is transferred to step 5, and the next symbol YN is guided.

Step 6 is the syntax element (of the non-terminal symbol Vs) among the symbols (syntax elements) on the right side for the symbol X (non-terminal symbol) on the left side.
guided menu), i.e., X−>Y s + Y
For example, Yl is created as a guide menu for xH...Y,...YN, and the number of items in the guide menu is set to variable M.

The shape is Mkuichi menu (Y,).

In step 7, the syntax element selected from the guidance menu item created in step 6 is assigned to the right side of the production rule of the input guidance state.

Step 8 is the syntax element Y having the selected menu;
recursively calls its syntax elements Zs, Zx,
...Construction-driven input guidance is performed for the production rule YI-nZ1*22+''Zn of ZM.

As described above, syntax elements conforming to the syntax rules are induced, and an input program for a computer having correct syntax rules is formed step by step, and inputted at the same time.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show specific guidance using symbols. For this purpose, as an example, the grammar G(P, S, VN,
VT) has the following contents.

First, the set P of production rules is P= (S->E, E->E+T, E->T, T->T
IF.

T->F, F-) (E), F->i) Non-terminal symbol VN= (S, E, T, F) Terminal symbol V T
= (+ y fist, (1), i) The induced content is a non-terminal symbol VN, and the symbol on the right side of the production rule (syntax element)
is as follows.

That is, the induced menu is
, T, F, select a menu (S
) = (E) Menu (E) = (E + T, T) Menu (T) = (T fist F, F) Menu (F) = ((E), i).

In this example, in accordance with the syntax-driven input guidance method using the depth-first algorithm described in FIG. A separate table is shown in Fig. 3, and the induction process is shown in this format in Fig. 4 to aid understanding.

First, in state number 1, it is shown that the symbol S consists of the symbol string E, so the guidance menu for the symbol string E is displayed. As described above, the menu (E) is E+T, T, so if the operator selects (E->E+T), the next step is to move to state number 2.

In state numbers 2 and below, since the operator has selected E+T, the symbols E and T must be guided.

In this example, first, the induction menu E+T for E,
Since the operator has selected T this time, the state moves to state number 3 and shows T*F, F of the menu (T).

Since the operator has selected T*F, menu (F) will also be guided in state numbers 4 and below. Thereafter, the guidance is performed sequentially in the same manner, and finally state number 11 is reached.
and all reach the terminal symbol i. Since the terminal symbol is a symbol that requires no further guidance, no guidance is performed after state number 11.

In this way, the result of the input guidance assuming the grammar G is shown to be the formula (i)*i+i according to the selected menu in FIG.

Next, syntax-driven input guidance using a degenerate grammar will be explained using an example. To simplify the explanation, the grammar G (P, S, VN) used in the previous example.

Vt).

The nonterminal symbol VN is divided into an explicit nonterminal symbol VEN and an implicit nonterminal symbol Vrn.

VEN=(S*EtT)VIN=(F
) Tosult, Grammar G'(P', S, VEN
, VT) is as follows.

P'= (S->E, E->E+T, E->T, T-
>T umbrella (E), T->Tli t T->
(E) # T-)i) As mentioned above, the symbol Vrs is replaced by the symbol vEN, so the production rule for the degenerate grammar G' is because the symbol F is on the right side (E), i of the production rule. be.

Therefore, the derived menu is for each non-terminal symbol VEN: Menu(S) = (E) Menu(E) = (E+T,T) Menu(T) = (T*(E), T umbrella i, (E ), i
). Regarding the menu (T), although the number of menus has increased, the operator only has to select one of them, so the operation only needs to be done once, and since the non-terminal symbol F is missing, the number of guidance steps is reduced. , the number of menu selection operations performed by the operator is reduced by the reduced number of stages. This is shown in FIG. This diagram also uses the same method as the guidance example explained in FIG. 3, so it can be read in the same way.

In state number 1, menu (E) is displayed as a guiding menu. The operator is one of them (E-))E+T
If you select , you will move to state number 2.

In state number 2, menu (E) is displayed as a guiding menu. If the operator selects T among them, the process moves to state number 3.

Progress is made sequentially in the same manner from state number 3 to state number 6, but in state number 7, since there is no generation rule to be further guided, input guidance is ended.

As a result, the formula (i) fist i+i is obtained as before.

In this way, if we use syntax-driven input guidance using the degenerate grammar G' of grammar G, compared to using one grammar G,
The number of guiding stages can be reduced.

Above, we have explained the input guidance procedure for the degenerate grammar G', but we will explain how to create a guidance menu (syntax element) for each non-terminal symbol, which is specific to the input guidance method procedure for the degenerate grammar G', using Figure 6. explain.

Here, the process described may include an implicit non-terminal symbol VIN in the non-terminal symbol VN in a given grammar G'.

The above process is roughly divided into two steps, one of which is the creation of a general menu, and the other is the creation of a will-form menu.

In step 11, if the given non-terminal symbol is, for example, X, a guided menu called a general form menu is created from the non-terminal symbol X. What is a general menu? Menu (X)
Menu (
This refers to a guided menu in which the implied non-terminal symbol Y) is applied repeatedly and the result is replaced with the implied non-terminal symbol Y in the menu (X), and the implied non-terminal symbol is finally deleted. G this
-Let's call it menu (X).

The guidance of the general menu in step 11 will be specifically described below.

For convenience, the concatenation of symbol A and symbol B is AAB, and the selection is AVB.
Expressed as Furthermore, the set of production rules for the nine grammars G' is P' = (S-)ABC.

A->X.

A->Y.

A->Z), VEs== (s, B, C, X, Y, Z)V r pt
= (A), the general form menu (S) of the guided menus
For, G many-L-(S) = ((XVYl, /Z) 8BA
C).

In the next step 12, a will form menu is created from the general form menu obtained in step 11. What is the will-form menu?
It is an expansion of the general menu into the format PzVPzVPs-VPN, and if it is a non-terminal symbol X, it is called an S-menu (X).

The distributive law of the following logical formula is repeatedly applied to this variable. In other words, it becomes as follows.

AA (BVC) = (AAB) V (AAC) The will-form menu obtained by this, with the concatenated △ symbol omitted for each Pi, becomes the final guidance menu.

In the previous example, the 1 will form menu would be as follows.

lNew(S) = ((XABAC)V(TAB80V(ZΔBAC)) Therefore, the final guided menu is Menu(S) = (XBC, YBC, ZBC).

The above-mentioned general form menu creation process 11 and testament form menu creation process 12 will be described in detail below.

Steps 13 to 24 show the procedure steps for creating -membrane menu G-menu (X).

In step 813, the right side of the production rule having the symbol X on the left side is assigned to the variable GMM.

In step 14, the number of production rules having the symbol X on the left side is assigned to the variable GMN.

Step 15 is the initial setting of the repetition process of steps 16 to 23, and the content of the repetition number setting counter i is set to 1.

In step 16, the number of symbols on the right side of the i-th production rule indicated by the counter i is assigned to a variable N.

Step 17 is the initial setting of the repetition process from step 18 to step 21, and a repetition number counter j is set to 1.

In step 18, if the j-th symbol of counter j corresponding to the i-th production rule of counter i is an implicit non-terminal symbol, control is transferred to the next step 19 and subsequent steps, and if it is an explicit non-terminal symbol or a terminal symbol, , control is transferred to step 23.

In step 19, a guidance menu (syntax element string) for the j-th symbol of the i-th production rule is created.

In step 20, the guidance menu created in step 19 is
Replace with the j-th symbol of the i-th production rule.

In step 21, if the number of repetitions j is greater than the variable N, control is transferred to step 23, and if it is equal to or smaller than variable N, control is transferred to step 22.

In step 22, the value of counter j is increased to +1 and the control is carried out in step 18.
Return to.

In step 23, if the number of iterations i is greater than the variable GMN, this procedure is terminated, and if it is equal or smaller, step 24 is executed.
Transfer control to

In step 24, the value of counter i is +1 and the control is in step 16.
Return to.

Steps 25 to 28 in FIG. 7 are the will form menu S-
The procedure for creating menu (X) is shown.

Step 25 converts the input G menu (X) into a variable GMM
Assign to .

In step 26, it is checked whether each generation rule of the variable GMM can be distributed, and if there is one, control is transferred to step 27; if not, control is transferred to step 28.

In step 27, the distributive law is applied and the result is assigned to the variable GMM.

In step 28, the variable G M M is assigned to the variable SMM,
finish.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the syntax-driven input guidance method according to the present invention, the interaction between the computer and its user can be carried out through the menu at the time of syntax creation, so while experimenting with the usability of the user's terminal equipment, The terminal side interface can be improved.

Furthermore, even novice computer users can easily perform input operations based on the correct syntax rules of a formal language by selecting the items they wish to input based on guidance from the computer system.

Furthermore, since the syntax rules based on degenerate grammars are used, the number of guidance stages can be omitted and even experienced users can select guidance menus without feeling unnecessary.As a result, the input operation Time is reduced.

The more skilled the user becomes, the easier it is to select items on the guidance menu, even if the number of guidance menus (syntax elements) per row is large, so the guidance method using degenerate grammar is extremely effective.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figures relate to an embodiment of the syntax-driven input guidance method of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the syntax-driven input guidance method, and FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the procedure. Figures 1- and 3 are diagrams of input guidance examples illustrated using symbols for convenience of explanation according to the procedure shown in Figure 2.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a wooden carving type to help understand FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of guidance for reducing the number of guidance stages in the example of FIG. 3. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the procedure of the guidance example shown in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of steps related to flowchart 1- shown in FIG. A: Computer, B: Input terminal device, G: Grammar, G': Degenerate grammar, P: Set of production rules (syntax element sequence), VEN: Explicit nonterminal symbol ,VTN
...implied non-terminal symbol, VN... non-terminal symbol, VT.
...terminal symbol, VNLJVt...syntax rules. Agent Patent Attorney Ogawa Layer JJ1. - 100 1 Figure 3 History・-I force' 5 Qi 1 A input I Hide + 4 Buri
)Tomi 4 Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A step of preparing in advance a syntax element string and a syntax rule defined using the relationship between them, and a step of being able to input the syntax elements forming the content of the syntax rule. Displaying syntax rules for the next input stage according to the syntax element selected by the operator;
A syntax-driven computer input terminal device characterized by displaying the next-stage syntactic elements that can be inputted to the operator and prompting the operator to make a selection, and then gradually completing and inputting the computer formal language. Type input guidance method. 2. Among the syntactic elements, the process of classifying elements included in nonterminal symbols into explicit nonterminal symbols and implicit nonterminal symbols, because they are always represented by the degenerate grammar syntax rules that omit implicit nonterminal symbols, they fall under implicit nonterminal symbols. It consists of the process of making syntactic elements from which syntactic elements are omitted into a selectable syntactic element menu that corresponds to the syntactic rules, and the next stage degenerate grammar syntactic rules or syntactic rules are guided step by step when input data is guided. 2. The syntax-driven input guidance method according to claim 1, wherein the number of guidance stages is reduced.