A Theory of Discrete Patterns and Their Implementation in SNOBOL4 The notion of a discrete pattern is formalized and certain properties deduced. A pattern is shown to be a generalization of a formal language. Algorithms for implementing the kinds of patterns in SNOBOL4 are given. The general approach is to create, in-so-far as possible, a bottom-up parse from a top-down specification. CACM February, 1973 Gimpel, J. F. patterns, SNOBOL4, pattern theory, parsing, pattern matching, string processing, pattern implementation 4.29 5.39 CA730203 JB January 24, 1978 3:13 PM 1665 4 2545 1768 4 2545 1787 4 2545 1824 4 2545 1825 4 2545 1836 4 2545 1861 4 2545 2015 4 2545 2110 4 2545 2127 4 2545 2187 4 2545 2317 4 2545 2545 4 2545 2545 4 2545 2545 4 2545 2698 4 2545 2733 4 2545 2746 4 2545 1739 5 2545 1781 5 2545 2341 5 2545 2545 5 2545 2545 5 2545 2545 5 2545 2746 5 2545 1665 6 2545 1739 6 2545 2139 6 2545 2545 6 2545 2786 6 2545