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Title

Semantica: Semantic Pattern Matching in Mathematica
Author

Jason Harris
Organization: Wolfram Research, Inc.
Department: User Interface Group
Journal / Anthology

The Mathematica Journal
Year: 1999
Volume: 7
Issue: 3
Page range: 329-360
Contents

Introduction | Syntactic versus Semantic Matching | Standard Mathematic and Semantic Matching | Semantica: A Full Semantic Pattern Matcher | Advanced Capabilities of Semantica | How Semantica's Definitions Work | How Semantica Builds Definitions | Future Extensions
Description

This paper introduces and explores the concept of semantic matching in the context of the Mathematica language. The package Semantica.m extends the Mathematica pattern matching language by adding the additional language mechanisms inherent to semantic matching. We explore the basic and advanced capabilities of Semantica, its limitations and its implementation. Loosely, Semantica works by translating or compiling semantic patterns into corresponding syntactic patterns. Finally, we follow through the consequences of the introduction of semantic patterns and examine prospective additions which may in the future be added to Semantica.
Subject

*Wolfram Technology > Kernel > Pattern Matching
Keywords

semantic pattern matching, syntactic pattern matching
URL

http://www.mathematica-journal.com/issue/v7i3/features/harris/