scholarly journals Comparative Semantics of Programming Languages

1984 ◽  
Vol 13 (173) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian H. Mayoh
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Specification Languages ◽  
Semantics Of Programming Languages ◽  
Definition Of

<p>The flood of new programming and specification languages shows no sign of abating, but very few of these languages have a formal definition. The advantages of knowing precisely what is specified in a specification and exactly how a program can behave are obvious, but none of the existing formal definition methods are completely satisfactory.</p><p>Theoreticians have not been idle, but they have concentrated on problems that are not immediately relevant to language designers (algebraic and categoric structuring of definitions, refined notions of concurrency and the like).</p><p>In the belief that the answer to some of the language designers' problems is ''use different formalisms to define fragments of the languages precisely'', we advocate the study of comparative semantics. This paper is a contribution to this study, prompted by the fact that the parallel aspects of ADA seem to require a quite different kind of formal semantics from that used for sequential ADA in ''Formal Definition of ADA'', CII Honeywell Bull, 1981, Paris.</p>

What is a purely functional language?

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
AMR SABRY
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Functional Programming ◽  
Denotational Semantics ◽  
Functional Language ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Functional Programming Languages ◽  
Precise Meaning ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Parameter Passing

Functional programming languages are informally classified into pure and impure languages. The precise meaning of this distinction has been a matter of controversy. We therefore investigate a formal definition of purity. We begin by showing that some proposed definitions which rely on confluence, soundness of the beta axiom, preservation of pure observational equivalences and independence of the order of evaluation, do not withstand close scrutiny. We propose instead a definition based on parameter-passing independence. Intuitively, the definition implies that functions are pure mappings from arguments to results; the operational decision of how to pass the arguments is irrelevant. In the context of Haskell, our definition is consistent with the fact that the traditional call-by-name denotational semantics coincides with the traditional call-by-need implementation. Furthermore, our definition is compatible with the stream-based, continuation-based and monad-based integration of computational effects in Haskell. Finally, we observe that call-by-name reasoning principles are unsound in compilers for monadic Haskell.

scholarly journals A Formal Model of Metaphor in Frame Semantics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasil Dinev Penchev
Keyword(s):  
Hilbert Space ◽  
Wave Function ◽  
Formal Model ◽  
Quantum Computer ◽  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Frame Semantics ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Mathematical Model

A formal model of metaphor is introduced. It models metaphor, first, as an interaction of “frames” according to the frame semantics, and then, as a wave function in Hilbert space. The practical way for a probability distribution and a corresponding wave function to be assigned to a given metaphor in a given language is considered. A series of formal definitions is deduced from this for: “representation”, “reality”, “language”, “ontology”, etc. All are based on Hilbert space. A few statements about a quantum computer are implied: The so-defined reality is inherent and internal to it. It can report a result only “metaphorically”. It will demolish transmitting the result “literally”, i.e. absolutely exactly. A new and different formal definition of metaphor is introduced as a few entangled wave functions corresponding to different “signs” in different language formally defined as above. The change of frames as the change from the one to the other formal definition of metaphor is interpreted as a formal definition of thought. Four areas of cognition are unified as different but isomorphic interpretations of the mathematical model based on Hilbert space. These are: quantum mechanics, frame semantics, formal semantics by means of quantum computer, and the theory of metaphor in linguistics.

Deductive Semantics of RTPA

2009 ◽  
pp. 2915-2942
Author(s):  
Yingxu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Semantic Theory ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Software Comprehension ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Semantic Function ◽  
Semantics Of Programming Languages ◽  
Finite Set

Deductive semantics is a novel software semantic theory that deduces the semantics of a program in a given programming language from a unique abstract semantic function to the concrete semantics embodied by the changes of status of a finite set of variables constituting the semantic environment of the program. There is a lack of a generic semantic function and its unified mathematical model in conventional semantics, which may be used to explain a comprehensive set of programming statements and computing behaviors. This article presents a complete paradigm of formal semantics that explains how deductive semantics is applied to specify the semantics of real-time process algebra (RTPA) and how RTPA challenges conventional formal semantic theories. Deductive semantics can be applied to define abstract and concrete semantics of programming languages, formal notation systems, and large-scale software systems, to facilitate software comprehension and recognition, to support tool development, to enable semantics-based software testing and verification, and to explore the semantic complexity of software systems. Deductive semantics may greatly simplify the description and analysis of the semantics of complicated software systems specified in formal notations and implemented in programming languages.

Deductive Semantics of RTPA

2011 ◽  
pp. 254-291
Author(s):  
Yingxu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Semantic Theory ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Software Comprehension ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Semantic Function ◽  
Semantics Of Programming Languages ◽  
Finite Set

Deductive semantics is a novel software semantic theory that deduces the semantics of a program in a given programming language from a unique abstract semantic function to the concrete semantics embodied by the changes of status of a finite set of variables constituting the semantic environment of the program. There is a lack of a generic semantic function and its unified mathematical model in conventional semantics, which may be used to explain a comprehensive set of programming statements and computing behaviors. This article presents a complete paradigm of formal semantics that explains how deductive semantics is applied to specify the semantics of real-time process algebra (RTPA) and how RTPA challenges conventional formal semantic theories. Deductive semantics can be applied to define abstract and concrete semantics of programming languages, formal notation systems, and large-scale software systems, to facilitate software comprehension and recognition, to support tool development, to enable semantics-based software testing and verification, and to explore the semantic complexity of software systems. Deductive semantics may greatly simplify the description and analysis of the semantics of complicated software systems specified in formal notations and implemented in programming languages.

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