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Pollack has proposed on algorithm for converting decision tables into flowcharts which minimize subsequent execution time when compiled into a computer program. Two modifications a this algorithm are proposed. The first relies on Shannon's noiseless coding theorem and the communications concept of entropy but does not completely test the ELSE Rule. The second modification completely tests the ELSE Rule but results in more executions than the first modification. Both modifications result in lower execution time than Pollack's algorithm. However, neither modification guarantees a globally optimal solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses an algorithm for Hu-Tucker minimum redundancy alphabetic coding method. This algorithm implements the Hu-Tucker method of variable length minimum redundancy alphabetic binary encoding. The symbols of the alphabet are considered to be an ordered forest of n terminal nodes. Two nodes in an ordered forest are said to be tentative-connecting if the sequence of nodes between the two given nodes is either empty or consists entirely of nonterminal nodes. An interval of nodes each pair of which is a tentative-connecting pair is called a tentative-connecting string. The original forest will, after a finite number of steps, be connected into a single tree. This tree will not, in general, satisfy the order-preserving requirement. However, it is shown the path lengths are feasible for the construction of a tree which does satisfy this requirement and is, moreover, minimal in cost. The present procedure finds a minimal cost tree whose longest path length and total path length are minimal.

The article presents a report by the National Academy of Sciences that examines machine translation against the light of human translation, which has disturbed many research administrators in the government. So much bad publicity has been engendered by this report that the future of machine translation is uncertain, even though the technology is a scant twelve years old. The report, titled "Language and Machines," recommends that the government withdraw its support of machine translation in favor of more theoretical areas, such as computational linguistics. "Languages and Machines" was written after a two-year study by the Automatic Language Processing Advisory Committee. Much bitter debate followed its public release in November 1966. On January 24, two months after the report was released a group of research administrators met in Washington to compare notes on the effects of the report. The administration argues that machine translation is going on in five facilities around the world. On the basis of studies it has been concluded that the post-edited machine translations of FTD were slow, expensive, of poor graphic arts quality, and not very good translation.