The purpose of this book is to present the fundamental ideas behind operational, denotional and axiomatic semantics; stress their relationship by formulating and proving relevant theorems; and to illustrate the applicability of formal semantics as a tool in computer science. The bulk of the text concentrates on a small core language of while-programs for which the three approaches are developed to roughly the same level of sophistication. To demonstrate the applicability of formal semantics, the authors show how to use semantics for validating prototype implementations of programming languages; how to use semantics for verifying analyses used in more advanced implementations of programming languages; and how to use semantics for verifying useful program properties including information about execution time. The reader should have some experience of functional programming and the BNF-style of specifying the syntax of programming languages.

Semantics With Applications: A Formal Introduction (Wiley Professional Computing)

Computers & Technology

Nielson, Hanne Riis

Nielson, Flemming

Programming

John Wiley&Sons, Inc.

The authors describe here a framework in which the type notation of functional languages is extended to include a notation for binding times (that is run-time and compile-time) that distinguishes between them. Consequently, the ability to specify code and verify program correctness can be improved. Two developments are needed, the first of which introduces the binding time distinction into the lambda calculus in a manner analogous with the introduction of types into the untyped lambda calculus. Methods are also presented for introducing combinators for run-time. The second concerns the interpretation of the resulting language, which is known as the mixed lambda-calculus and combinatory logic. The notion of "parametrized semantics" is used to describe code generation and abstract interpretation. The code generation is for a simple abstract machine designed for the purpose, it is close to the categorical abstract machine. The abstract interpretation focuses on a strictness analysis that generalizes Wadler's analysis for lists. It is also shown how the results of abstract interpretation may be used to improve the code generation.

Two-Level Functional Languages (Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science, Series Number 34)

Computer Science

Cambridge University Press

Concurrent and distributed processes occur everywhere: in embedded systems, in information networks and databases, and in the form of applets roaming around on the World-Wide-Web. This book presents and develops state-of-the-art validation techniques for detecting safety violations; the focus is on the correctness of techniques that suffice for fully automatic validation of key components of such systems. It builds on and extends the notion of types, popular in many sequential programming languages as a technique for catching certain kinds of errors already at program development time, by incorporating behaviours (or structured effects) that are able to track the information flow in the presence of procedures, channel based communication, and the dynamic creation of network topologies. The technical development is performed for a language based on Concurrent ML.

TYPE AND EFFECT SYSTEMS: BEHAVIOURS FOR CONCURRENCY

Amtoft, Torben

Imperial College Pr

This textbook is an introduction to the use of formal methods ranging from semantics of key programming constructs to techniques for the analysis and verification of programs. The authors use program graphs as the mechanism for representing the control structure of programs in order to find a balance between generality and conceptual complexity. The early chapters on program graphs and the Guarded Commands language are sufficient introduction for most readers to then enjoy a plug-and-play approach to the remaining chapters. These explain formal methods for analysing the behaviour of programs in various ways ranging from verification, via program analysis and language-based security, to model checking. The remaining chapters present language extensions with procedures and concurrency and cover their semantics. The book is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in software development, and the text is supported throughout with exercises of varying grades of difficulty. The authors have developed an online learning environment that allows students to create examples beyond those covered in the main text, and in the book appendices they present programming projects aimed at implementing central parts of the development using the functional language F#.

Formal Methods: An Appetizer

Riis Nielson, Hanne

Springer

Program analysis utilizes static techniques for computing reliable information about the dynamic behavior of programs. Applications include compilers (for code improvement), software validation (for detecting errors) and transformations between data representation (for solving problems such as Y2K). This book is unique in providing an overview of the four major approaches to program analysis: data flow analysis, constraint-based analysis, abstract interpretation, and type and effect systems. The presentation illustrates the extensive similarities between the approaches, helping readers to choose the best one to utilize.

Principles of Program Analysis

Nielson, Hanne R.

Hankin, Chris

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