Abstract
Constructive Semantics is an approach to programming language semantics that treats a program as a constructive specification for an abstract state machine. This abstract machine is composed of a set of smaller “well-behaved” machines operating concurrently. The exact combination of machines is determined by the program, with each programming language construct appearing in the program defining a portion of the composition. The programming language itself specifies a number of primitive machines that form the basic building blocks of programs. These machines represent the basic operations and data types of the language. The resulting semantics is relatively easy to understand, and its relationship to the original program is clear.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Ada Programming Language, ANSI/MIL-STD-1815A (1983)
Brookes, Stephen D, A Model for Communicating Sequential Processes, Ph.D. thesis, University College, Oxford University (1983)
Brown, Paul C. Oconnor, D.M., and Kelliher, Tim, “An Extended Overload Resolution Algorithm that allows Types and Subprograms as First Class Objects,” internal document, GE Corporate Research and Development Center, Schenectady, New York (1989)
Brown, Paul C., Computing Visibility in Programming Languages, Technical Report 90CRD098, GE Research and Development Center, Schenectady, New York 12301 (1990)
Brown, Paul C., Constructive Semantics, Ph.D. thesis, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York (1992)
Eaker, Charles E., “Creating Software Should Be Easy,” (unpublished) GE Corporate Research and Development Center, Schenectady, New York (1991)
Eaker, Charles E., “How to Create Software: A Guide to the Perplexed,” (unpublished) GE Corporate Research and Development Center, Schenectady, New York (1991)
Hoare, C.A.R., Communicating Seauential Processes, Prentice Hall International (1985)
Milner, Robin, “Calculi for Synchrony and Asynchrony,” Journal of Theoretical Computer Science, Vol. 25, pp 267–310 (1983)
Milner, Robin, Communication and Concurrency, Prentice Hall International (1989)
Rees, Jonathan and Clinger, William (eds), “Revised3 Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme,” SIGPLAN Notices, Vol. 21, No. 12 (1986).
Rumbaugh, James et. al., Object Oriented Modeling and Design, Prentice Hall (1991)
Van Benthem, Johan, The Logic of Time: A Model Theoretic Investigation into the Varieties of Temporal Ontology and Temporal Discourse, D. Reidel Publishing Company (1982)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 British Computer Society
About this paper
Cite this paper
Brown, P.C. (1993). Constructive Semantics. In: Purushothaman, S., Zwarico, A. (eds) NAPAW 92. Workshops in Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3217-2_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3217-2_11
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-19822-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3217-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive