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Constraint Unification Grammars: Specifying Languages of Parametric Designs

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Artificial Intelligence in Design ’94

Abstract

A grammar formalism for generating parametric objects is presented. The objects have differing topologies, complete with constraints which, when satisfied, ensure that design specifications are met. The representation is based on recursively-defined structures of attributes, values and constraint expressions. In the rewrite operations of the grammar, pattern matching is replaced by constraint structure unification, which preserves and combines constraint expressions. The generated objects consist of structures with declarative constraints ranging over the complete parse tree for the generation. A grammar specifying a simple mechanical design problem is discussed, followed by an example generation of an object in the language.

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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Brown, K.N., McMahon, C.A., Williams, J.H.S. (1994). Constraint Unification Grammars: Specifying Languages of Parametric Designs. In: Gero, J.S., Sudweeks, F. (eds) Artificial Intelligence in Design ’94. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0928-4_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-0928-4_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-010-4400-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-0928-4

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