The Formal Semantics of Programming Languages: An Introduction [Paperback]

Glynn Winskel (Author)

List Price:	CDN$ 67.50
Price:	CDN$ 52.66 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
You Save:	CDN$ 14.84 (22%)
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

Only 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Monday, May 28? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout.

Product Details

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press (Feb 5 1993)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0262731037
ISBN-13: 978-0262731034
Product Dimensions: 23 x 17.6 x 1.8 cm
Shipping Weight: 590 g
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #516,252 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

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.

About the Author

Glynn Winskel is Professor of Computer Science at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Share your experience with this product with others

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com ^(beta)

Amazon.com: 2.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)

3 of 11 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not recommend for a PL beginner., Sep 18 2009

By Kali76 - Published on Amazon.com

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: The Formal Semantics of Programming Languages: An Introduction (Paperback)

Bought this book for a graduate PL class. For the most part, the book covers basic semantics and syntax of PL, but does't provide enough explanations and examples so it's difficult to understand for a PL beginner!

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review 2.0 out of 5 stars