What is Applied Computer Science

This chapter presents a method to determine the actual version of a script used in constructing of a script relic from unknown origin. The glyphs belong to graphemes as models are realized in the relics as symbols. Some group of glyphs may transform their shape (shapeshifting) through time which produces various versions of scripts that use different glyphs to express the same grapheme. These glyph variants can be identified from extant relics, mainly from historical abecedaries that are used as references. Our algorithm can determine whether or not an abecedary is related to the symbols of a relic from unknown origin by means of the canonical decomposition of the glyphs and symbols. From there an aggregated value called fingerprint is created and it is unique for each relic. The fingerprints then are evaluated by clustering technique using various metrics. As the result of performing comparative evaluations the Minkowski metric provides the most interpretable clustering structure. The results of the evaluations, conclusions, and future work are also presented.