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Proof-directed program transformation: A functional account of efficient regular expression matching

Part of: Robert Harper Festschrift Collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2021

ANDRZEJ FILINSKI Open the ORCID record for ANDRZEJ FILINSKI [Opens in a new window]
ANDRZEJ FILINSKI*
Affiliation:
Department of Computer Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (e-mail: [email protected])
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Abstract

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We show how to systematically derive an efficient regular expression (regex) matcher using a variety of program transformation techniques, but very little specialized formal language and automata theory. Starting from the standard specification of the set-theoretic semantics of regular expressions, we proceed via a continuation-based backtracking matcher, to a classical, table-driven state machine. All steps of the development are supported by self-contained (and machine-verified) equational correctness proofs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Functional Programming , Volume 31 , 2021 , e12
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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