Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science: Series Number 46: Domains and Lambda-Calculi

Roberto M. Amadio

ISBN 10: 0521622778 / ISBN 13: 9780521622776

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1998

About this Item

Graduate text on mathematical foundations of programming languages, and operational and denotational semantics. Series Editor(s): Van Rijsbergen, C. J.; Abramsky, S.; Aczel, P. H.; Bakker, J. W. de; Gurevich, Y.; Tucker, J. V. Series: Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science. Num Pages: 504 pages, 85 b/w illus. BIC Classification: PBCD; UYA. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 228 x 152 x 32. Weight in Grams: 910. . 1998. First Edition. Hardcover. . . . .

Seller Inventory # V9780521622776

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science: Series Number 46: Domains and Lambda-Calculi
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521622778
• ISBN 13: 9780521622776
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This book describes the mathematical aspects of the semantics of programming languages. The main goals are to provide formal tools to assess the meaning of programming constructs in both a language-independent and a machine-independent way and to prove properties about programs, such as whether they terminate, or whether their result is a solution of the problem they are supposed to solve. In order to achieve this the authors first present, in an elementary and unified way, the theory of certain topological spaces that have proved of use in the modeling of various families of typed lambda calculi considered as core programming languages and as meta-languages for denotational semantics. This theory is now known as Domain Theory, and was founded as a subject by Scott and Plotkin. One of the main concerns is to establish links between mathematical structures and more syntactic approaches to semantics, often referred to as operational semantics, which is also described. This dual approach has the double advantage of motivating computer scientists to do some mathematics and of interesting mathematicians in unfamiliar application areas from computer science.

Book Description

This book describes the mathematical aspects of the semantics of programming languages. The main goals are to provide formal tools to assess the meaning of programming constructs in both a language-independent and a machine-independent way, and to prove properties about programs, such as whether they terminate, or whether their result is a solution of the problem they are supposed to solve. To do this the authors explain denotational and operational semantics and exploit the duality between them.