2001/10/18 by Ming Li, Paul Vitanyi
Computer Science · #cs.CC
published as M. Li and P.M.B. Vitanyi, A new approach to formal language theory by Kolmogorov complexity, SIAM J. Comput., 24:2(1995), 398-410
arxiv created 2001/10/18 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
We present a new approach to formal language theory using Kolmogorov complexity. The main results presented here are an alternative for pumping lemma(s), a new characterization for regular languages, and a new method to separate deterministic context-free languages and nondeterministic context-free languages. The use of the new `incompressibility arguments' is illustrated by many examples. The approach is also successful at the high end of the Chomsky hierarchy since one can quantify nonrecursiveness in terms of Kolmogorov complexity. (This is a preliminary uncorrected version. The final version is the one published in SIAM J. Comput., 24:2(1995), 398-410.)