Comparative Metric Semantics of Programming Languages

TRAMA

During the last three decades several different styles of semantics for program­ ming languages have been developed. This book compares two of them: the operational and the denotational approach. On the basis of several exam­ ples we show how to define operational and denotational semantic models for programming languages. Furthermore, we introduce a general technique for comparing various semantic models for a given language. We focus on different degrees of nondeterminism in programming lan­ guages. Nondeterminism arises naturally in concurrent languages. It is also an important concept in specification languages. In the examples discussed, the degree of non determinism ranges from a choice between two alternatives to a choice between a collection of alternatives indexed by a closed interval of the real numbers. The former arises in a language with nondeterministic choices. A real time language with dense choices gives rise to the latter. We also consider the nondeterministic random assignment and parallel composition, both couched in a simple language. Besides non determinism our four example languages contain some form of recursion, a key ingredient of programming languages.

SOMMARIO

Nondeterminism and recursion.- Operational semantics.- Denotational semantics.- Metric spaces.- Comparative semantics.- Bibliographic notes.- I.- 1 Domain equations.- 2 Linear and branching domains.- II.- 3 Operational semantics.- 4 Nondeterministic choice.- 5 Random assignment.- III.- 6 Generalized finiteness conditions.- 7 Dense choice.- 8 Second order communication.- A Metric spaces.- A.1 Metrics.- A.2 Completeness and contractiveness.- A.3 Hyperspaces.- A.4 Nonexpansive functions.- A.5 Bibliographic notes.- Author index.

ALTRE INFORMAZIONI

• Condizione: Nuovo
• ISBN: 9780817639273
• Collana: Progress in Theoretical Computer Science
• Dimensioni: 234 x 156 mm
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Illustration Notes: XX, 220 p.
• Pagine Arabe: 220
• Pagine Romane: xx