The Hardest LL(k) Language

Abstract

This paper establishes an analogue of Greibach’s hardest language theorem (“The hardest context-free language”, SIAM J. Comp., 1973, http://dx.doi.org/10.1137/0202025 ) for the classical family of LL([Formula: see text]) languages. The first result is that there is a language [Formula: see text] defined by an LL(1) grammar in the Greibach normal form, to which every language [Formula: see text] defined by an LL(1) grammar in the Greibach normal form can be reduced by a homomorphism, that is, [Formula: see text] if and only if [Formula: see text]. Then it is shown that this statement does not hold for the full class of LL([Formula: see text]) languages. The other hardest language theorem is then established in the following form: there is a language [Formula: see text] defined by an LL(1) grammar in the Greibach normal form, such that, for every language [Formula: see text] defined by an LL([Formula: see text]) grammar, with [Formula: see text], there exists a homomorphism [Formula: see text], for which [Formula: see text] if and only if [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is a new symbol. The results lead to two robust language families: the closures of the languages defined by LL(1) grammars in the Greibach normal form under inverse homomorphisms and under inverse finite transductions.