› › A Formal Semantics For Computer Oriented Languages

The Formal Semantics of Programming Languages

Author : Glynn Winskel

Publisher : MIT Press

Page : 388 pages

File Size : 26,90 MB

Release : 1993-02-05

Category : Computers

ISBN : 9780262731034

Get eBook

Book Description

The Formal Semantics of Programming Languages provides the basic mathematical techniques necessary for those who are beginning a study of the semantics and logics of programming languages. These techniques will allow students to invent, formalize, and justify rules with which to reason about a variety of programming languages. Although the treatment is elementary, several of the topics covered are drawn from recent research, including the vital area of concurency. The book contains many exercises ranging from simple to miniprojects.Starting with basic set theory, structural operational semantics is introduced as a way to define the meaning of programming languages along with associated proof techniques. Denotational and axiomatic semantics are illustrated on a simple language of while-programs, and fall proofs are given of the equivalence of the operational and denotational semantics and soundness and relative completeness of the axiomatic semantics. A proof of Godel's incompleteness theorem, which emphasizes the impossibility of achieving a fully complete axiomatic semantics, is included. It is supported by an appendix providing an introduction to the theory of computability based on while-programs. Following a presentation of domain theory, the semantics and methods of proof for several functional languages are treated. The simplest language is that of recursion equations with both call-by-value and call-by-name evaluation. This work is extended to lan guages with higher and recursive types, including a treatment of the eager and lazy lambda-calculi. Throughout, the relationship between denotational and operational semantics is stressed, and the proofs of the correspondence between the operation and denotational semantics are provided. The treatment of recursive types - one of the more advanced parts of the book - relies on the use of information systems to represent domains. The book concludes with a chapter on parallel programming languages, accompanied by a discussion of methods for specifying and verifying nondeterministic and parallel programs.



Foundations of Object-oriented Languages

Author : Kim B. Bruce

Publisher : MIT Press

Page : 416 pages

File Size : 23,96 MB

Release : 2002

Category : Computers

ISBN : 9780262025232

Get eBook

Book Description

A presentation of the formal underpinnings of object-oriented programming languages.



Formal Syntax and Semantics of Programming Languages

Author : Kenneth Slonneger

Publisher : Addison-Wesley Longman

Page : 664 pages

File Size : 30,60 MB

Release : 1995

Category : Computers

ISBN :

Get eBook

Book Description

With this book, readers with a basic grounding in discreet mathematics will be able to understand the practical applications of these difficult concepts. The book presents the typically difficult subject of "formal methods" in an informal, easy-to-follow manner. A "laboratory component" is integrated throughout the text.



Formal Syntax and Semantics of Java

Author : Jim Alves-Foss

Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media

Page : 410 pages

File Size : 20,73 MB

Release : 1999-06-09

Category : Computers

ISBN : 3540661581

Get eBook

Book Description

Java, undoubtedly, has its roots in embedded systems and the Web. Nevertheless, it is a fully functional high-level programming language that can provide users with a wide range of functionality and versatility. This thoroughly cross-reviewed state-of-the-art survey is devoted to the study of the syntax and semantics of Java from a formal-methods point of view. It consists of the following chapters by leading researchers: Formal Grammar for Java; Describing the Semantics of Java and Proving Type Soundness; Proving Java Type Soundness; Machine-Checking the Java Specification: Proving Type-Safety; An Event-Based Structural Operational Semantics of Multi-Threaded Java Dynamic Denotational Semantics of Java; A Programmer's Reduction Semantics for Classes and Mixins; A Formal Specification of Java Virtual Machine Instructions for Objects, Methods and Subroutines; The Operational Semantics of a Java Secure Processor; A Programmer Friendly Modular Definition of the Semantics of Java.



Semantics of Programming Languages

Author : Carl A. Gunter

Publisher : MIT Press

Page : 450 pages

File Size : 42,7 MB

Release : 1992

Category : Computers

ISBN : 9780262570954

Get eBook

Book Description

Semantics of Programming Languages exposes the basic motivations and philosophy underlying the applications of semantic techniques in computer science. It introduces the mathematical theory of programming languages with an emphasis on higher-order functions and type systems. Designed as a text for upper-level and graduate-level students, the mathematically sophisticated approach will also prove useful to professionals who want an easily referenced description of fundamental results and calculi. Basic connections between computational behavior, denotational semantics, and the equational logic of functional programs are thoroughly and rigorously developed. Topics covered include models of types, operational semantics, category theory, domain theory, fixed point (denotational). semantics, full abstraction and other semantic correspondence criteria, types and evaluation, type checking and inference, parametric polymorphism, and subtyping. All topics are treated clearly and in depth, with complete proofs for the major results and numerous exercises.



Essentials of Programming Languages, third edition

Author : Daniel P. Friedman

Publisher : MIT Press

Page : 433 pages

File Size : 22,75 MB

Release : 2008-04-18

Category : Computers

ISBN : 0262062798

Get eBook

Book Description

A new edition of a textbook that provides students with a deep, working understanding of the essential concepts of programming languages, completely revised, with significant new material. This book provides students with a deep, working understanding of the essential concepts of programming languages. Most of these essentials relate to the semantics, or meaning, of program elements, and the text uses interpreters (short programs that directly analyze an abstract representation of the program text) to express the semantics of many essential language elements in a way that is both clear and executable. The approach is both analytical and hands-on. The book provides views of programming languages using widely varying levels of abstraction, maintaining a clear connection between the high-level and low-level views. Exercises are a vital part of the text and are scattered throughout; the text explains the key concepts, and the exercises explore alternative designs and other issues. The complete Scheme code for all the interpreters and analyzers in the book can be found online through The MIT Press web site. For this new edition, each chapter has been revised and many new exercises have been added. Significant additions have been made to the text, including completely new chapters on modules and continuation-passing style. Essentials of Programming Languages can be used for both graduate and undergraduate courses, and for continuing education courses for programmers.



The Denotational Description of Programming Languages

Author : M.J.C. Gordon

Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media

Page : 168 pages

File Size : 22,95 MB

Release : 2012-12-06

Category : Computers

ISBN : 1461262283

Get eBook

Book Description

This book explains how to formally describe programming languages using the techniques of denotational semantics. The presentation is designed primarily for computer science students rather than for (say) mathematicians. No knowledge of the theory of computation is required, but it would help to have some acquaintance with high level programming languages. The selection of material is based on an undergraduate semantics course taught at Edinburgh University for the last few years. Enough descriptive techniques are covered to handle all of ALGOL 50, PASCAL and other similar languages. Denotational semantics combines a powerful and lucid descriptive notation (due mainly to Strachey) with an elegant and rigorous theory (due to Scott). This book provides an introduction to the descriptive techniques without going into the background mathematics at all. In some ways this is very unsatisfactory; reliable reasoning about semantics (e. g. correctness proofs) cannot be done without knowing the underlying model and so learning semantic notation without its model theory could be argued to be pointless. My own feeling is that there is plenty to be gained from acquiring a purely intuitive understanding of semantic concepts together with manipulative competence in the notation. For these equip one with a powerful conceptua1 framework-a framework enabling one to visualize languages and constructs in an elegant and machine-independent way. Perhaps a good analogy is with calculus: for many practical purposes (e. g. engineering calculations) an intuitive understanding of how to differentiate and integrate is all that is needed.



Computational Semantics with Functional Programming

Author : Jan van Eijck

Publisher : Cambridge University Press

Page : 422 pages

File Size : 35,78 MB

Release : 2010-09-23

Category : Language Arts & Disciplines

ISBN : 1139490907

Get eBook

Book Description

Computational semantics is the art and science of computing meaning in natural language. The meaning of a sentence is derived from the meanings of the individual words in it, and this process can be made so precise that it can be implemented on a computer. Designed for students of linguistics, computer science, logic and philosophy, this comprehensive text shows how to compute meaning using the functional programming language Haskell. It deals with both denotational meaning (where meaning comes from knowing the conditions of truth in situations), and operational meaning (where meaning is an instruction for performing cognitive action). Including a discussion of recent developments in logic, it will be invaluable to linguistics students wanting to apply logic to their studies, logic students wishing to learn how their subject can be applied to linguistics, and functional programmers interested in natural language processing as a new application area.



Design Concepts in Programming Languages

Author : Franklyn Turbak

Publisher : MIT Press

Page : 1347 pages

File Size : 36,57 MB

Release : 2008-07-18

Category : Computers

ISBN : 0262303159

Get eBook

Book Description

Key ideas in programming language design and implementation explained using a simple and concise framework; a comprehensive introduction suitable for use as a textbook or a reference for researchers. Hundreds of programming languages are in use today—scripting languages for Internet commerce, user interface programming tools, spreadsheet macros, page format specification languages, and many others. Designing a programming language is a metaprogramming activity that bears certain similarities to programming in a regular language, with clarity and simplicity even more important than in ordinary programming. This comprehensive text uses a simple and concise framework to teach key ideas in programming language design and implementation. The book's unique approach is based on a family of syntactically simple pedagogical languages that allow students to explore programming language concepts systematically. It takes as premise and starting point the idea that when language behaviors become incredibly complex, the description of the behaviors must be incredibly simple. The book presents a set of tools (a mathematical metalanguage, abstract syntax, operational and denotational semantics) and uses it to explore a comprehensive set of programming language design dimensions, including dynamic semantics (naming, state, control, data), static semantics (types, type reconstruction, polymporphism, effects), and pragmatics (compilation, garbage collection). The many examples and exercises offer students opportunities to apply the foundational ideas explained in the text. Specialized topics and code that implements many of the algorithms and compilation methods in the book can be found on the book's Web site, along with such additional material as a section on concurrency and proofs of the theorems in the text. The book is suitable as a text for an introductory graduate or advanced undergraduate programming languages course; it can also serve as a reference for researchers and practitioners.



Types and Programming Languages

Author : Benjamin C. Pierce

Publisher : MIT Press

Page : 646 pages

File Size : 45,53 MB

Release : 2002-01-04

Category : Computers

ISBN : 0262303825

Get eBook

Book Description

A comprehensive introduction to type systems and programming languages. A type system is a syntactic method for automatically checking the absence of certain erroneous behaviors by classifying program phrases according to the kinds of values they compute. The study of type systems—and of programming languages from a type-theoretic perspective—has important applications in software engineering, language design, high-performance compilers, and security. This text provides a comprehensive introduction both to type systems in computer science and to the basic theory of programming languages. The approach is pragmatic and operational; each new concept is motivated by programming examples and the more theoretical sections are driven by the needs of implementations. Each chapter is accompanied by numerous exercises and solutions, as well as a running implementation, available via the Web. Dependencies between chapters are explicitly identified, allowing readers to choose a variety of paths through the material. The core topics include the untyped lambda-calculus, simple type systems, type reconstruction, universal and existential polymorphism, subtyping, bounded quantification, recursive types, kinds, and type operators. Extended case studies develop a variety of approaches to modeling the features of object-oriented languages.