Abbreviated Path Expressions With Iterated Wild Cards: WYSIWYG Semantics and Efficient Implementation

Abbreviated Path expressions are used as an information hiding tool in Adaptive Programming (AP), eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document processing, and Aspect Oriented Programming (AOP). In the context of AP, the classical semantics of wild cards as place holders for any symbol leads to modularity and ambiguity problems when these wild cards are iterated. We show that a slightly restricted semantics for wild cards, called the WYSIWYG semantic can not only solve these problems but also lead to the construction of more efficient recognizers for abbreviated path expressions with iterated wild cards.