Uniformity
Boolean circuits are one of the prime examples of so-called non-uniform models of computation in the sense that inputs of different lengths are processed by different circuits, in contrast with uniform models such as Turing machines where the same computational device is used for all possible input lengths. An individual computational problem is thus associated with a particular family of Boolean circuits where each is the circuit handling inputs of n bits. A uniformity condition is often imposed on these families, requiring the existence of some resource-bounded Turing machine which, on input n, produces a description of the individual circuit . When this Turing machine has a running time polynomial in n, the circuit family is said to be P-uniform. The stricter requirement of DLOGTIME-uniformity is of particular interest in the study of shallow-depth circuit-classes such as AC0 or TC0.
Read more about this topic: Circuit Complexity
Famous quotes containing the word uniformity:
“The diversity in the faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate, is not less an insuperable obstacle to a uniformity of interests. The protection of these faculties is the first object of government.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)