A hypergraph-based hierarchial data structure and its applications

A new data structure, which combines a hierarchical organization with a hypergraph-based representation, is presented. This structure, called a structured hypergraph, is a hierarchy of hypergraphs and combines the two concepts of modular decomposition and of description of an entity at different levels of abstraction. Two basic transformations, called refinement and abstraction, are described. These latter are the basic tools for defining and modifying a structured hypergraph. Applications of this structure as a hardware system model, as a description of the symbol table of modular language, as a hierarchical representation of solid objects, and as a model of computer networks are discussed.