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Constructive Semantics

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NAPAW 92

Part of the book series: Workshops in Computing ((WORKSHOPS COMP.))

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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.

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© 1993 British Computer Society

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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

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  • 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

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