English

Periodic Single-Pass Instruction Sequences

Programming Languages 2013-04-17 v2

Abstract

A program is a finite piece of data that produces a (possibly infinite) sequence of primitive instructions. From scratch we develop a linear notation for sequential, imperative programs, using a familiar class of primitive instructions and so-called repeat instructions, a particular type of control instructions. The resulting mathematical structure is a semigroup. We relate this set of programs to program algebra (PGA) and show that a particular subsemigroup is a carrier for PGA by providing axioms for single-pass congruence, structural congruence, and thread extraction. This subsemigroup characterizes periodic single-pass instruction sequences and provides a direct basis for PGA's toolset.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0810.1151,
  title  = {Periodic Single-Pass Instruction Sequences},
  author = {Jan A. Bergstra and Alban Ponse},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0810.1151},
  year   = {2013}
}

Comments

16 pages, 3 tables, New title

R2 v1 2026-06-21T11:28:04.336Z