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Formal Languages: an Introduction and a Synopsis

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Handbook of Formal Languages

Abstract

What is a language? By consulting a dictionary one finds, among others, the following explanations:

  1. 1

    The body of words and systems for their use common to people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition.

  2. 2

    Any set or system of signs or symbols used in a more or less uniform fashion by a number of people who are thus enabled to communicate intelligibly with one other.

  3. 3

    Any system of formalized symbols, signs, gestures, or the like, used or conceived as a means of communicating thought, emotion, etc.

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Authors
  1. Alexandru Mateescu
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  2. Arto Salomaa
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9512, Leiden, RA, NL-2300, The Netherlands

    Grzegorz Rozenberg

  2. Turku Centre for Computer Science Data City, Turku, FIN-20520, Finland

    Arto Salomaa

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Mateescu, A., Salomaa, A. (1997). Formal Languages: an Introduction and a Synopsis. In: Rozenberg, G., Salomaa, A. (eds) Handbook of Formal Languages. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59136-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59136-5_1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-63863-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-59136-5

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