TY - GEN
T1 - Unification revisited
AU - Lassez, J. L.
AU - Maher, M. J.
AU - Marriott, K.
PY - 1988/1/1
Y1 - 1988/1/1
N2 - In the literature unification is often treated as a simple and straightforward matter, even though it is recognized as a deep and fundamental concept. However when a thorough presentation is attempted, it is then realized that the matter is fairly subtle and treacherous. For instance the notion of most general unifier and its property of being unique up to renaming are open to different interpretations. In fact there are several approaches to unification, based on different mathematical concepts, which are not equivalent. We present here the alternatives and clarify their relationships. In the process new results are obtained related to the notions of equation solving, most specific generalization and constraint solving. This leads to a comprehensive presentation of an elementary theory of unification.
AB - In the literature unification is often treated as a simple and straightforward matter, even though it is recognized as a deep and fundamental concept. However when a thorough presentation is attempted, it is then realized that the matter is fairly subtle and treacherous. For instance the notion of most general unifier and its property of being unique up to renaming are open to different interpretations. In fact there are several approaches to unification, based on different mathematical concepts, which are not equivalent. We present here the alternatives and clarify their relationships. In the process new results are obtained related to the notions of equation solving, most specific generalization and constraint solving. This leads to a comprehensive presentation of an elementary theory of unification.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85034854922&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/3-540-19129-1_4
DO - 10.1007/3-540-19129-1_4
M3 - Conference Paper
AN - SCOPUS:85034854922
SN - 9783540191292
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 67
EP - 113
BT - Foundations of Logic and Functional Programming - Workshop, Proceedings
A2 - Carlucci Aiello, Luigia
A2 - Levi, Giorgio
A2 - Boscarol, Mauro
PB - Springer
T2 - Workshop on Foundations of Logic and Functional Programming, 1986
Y2 - 15 December 1986 through 19 December 1986
ER -