On obtaining the Boyer-Moore string-matching algorithm by partial evaluation

We present the first derivation of the search phase of the Boyer-Moore stringmatching algorithm by partial evaluation of an inefficient string matcher. The derivation hinges on identifying the bad-character-shift heuristic as a bindingtime improvement, bounded static variation. An inefficient string matcher incorporating this binding-time improvement specializes into the search phase of the Horspool algorithm, which is a simplified variant of the Boyer-Moore algorithm. Combining the bad-character-shift binding-time improvement with our previous results yields a new binding-time-improved string matcher that specializes into the search phase of the Boyer-Moore algorithm. ∗Basic Research in Computer Science (www.brics.dk), funded by the Danish National Research Foundation. †IT-parken, Aabogade 34, DK-8200 Aarhus N, Denmark. Email: {danvy,hense}@brics.dk