Automatic analysis of UDC notations

Abstract

Universal Decimal Classification is often criticized for that computer programmes are not able to fully manage its simultaneously hierarchical, analyticsynthetic and faceted features. The goal of this paper is to present a software interpreter under development, which is able to analyze the syntax of compound UDC numbers, to recognize its elements and their functions, their order and other attributes which may be relevant to retrieval. The system wishes to make the results of this analyzing process available as converted into different standard markup and data exchange formats as well. Such software can be useful for comparing UDC notations, analyzing them and finding headings to serve as access points, as well as for elaborating.