Related papers: A meta-theory for big-step semantics
We propose a general proof technique to show that a predicate is sound, that is, prevents stuck computation, with respect to a big-step semantics. This result may look surprising, since in big-step semantics there is no difference between…
As is evident in the programming language literature, many practitioners favor specifying dynamic program behavior using big-step over small-step semantics. Unlike small-step semantics, which must dwell on every intermediate program state,…
Using a call-by-value functional language as an example, this article illustrates the use of coinductive definitions and proofs in big-step operational semantics, enabling it to describe diverging evaluations in addition to terminating…
Formal semantics provides rigorous, mathematically precise definitions of programming languages, with which we can argue about program behaviour and program equivalence by formal means; in particular, we can describe and verify our…
Verified compilers aim to guarantee that compilation preserves the observable behavior of source programs. While small-step semantics are widely used in such compilers, they are not always the most convenient framework for structural…
Structural operational semantic specifications come in different styles: small-step and big-step. A problem with the big-step style is that specifying divergence and abrupt termination gives rise to annoying duplication. We present a novel…
A reliable technique for deductive program verification should be proven sound with respect to the semantics of the programming language. For each different language, the construction of a separate soundness proof is often a laborious…
In a paper presented at SOS 2010, we developed a framework for big-step semantics for interactive input-output in combination with divergence, based on coinductive and mixed inductive-coinductive notions of resumptions, evaluation and…
Small-step and big-step operational semantics are two fundamental styles of structural operational semantics (SOS), extensively used in practice. The former one is more fine-grained and is usually regarded as primitive, as it only defines a…
The operational semantics of a programming language is said to be small-step if each transition step is an atomic computation step in the language. A semantics with this property faithfully corresponds to the implementation of the language.…
Many universities have courses and projects revolving around compiler or interpreter implementation as part of their degree programmes in computer science. In such teaching activities, tool support can be highly beneficial. While there are…
Writing correct distributed programs is hard. In spite of extensive testing and debugging, software faults persist even in commercial grade software. Many distributed systems, especially those employed in safety-critical environments,…
Probabilistic operational semantics for a nondeterministic extension of pure lambda calculus is studied. In this semantics, a term evaluates to a (finite or infinite) distribution of values. Small-step and big-step semantics are both…
Many potentially non-terminating functions cannot be directly defined in a logic of total functions, such as HOL. A well-known solution to this is to define non-terminating functions using a clock that forces termination at a certain depth…
Type soundness is an important property of modern programming languages. In this paper we explore the idea that "well-typed languages are sound": the idea that the appropriate typing discipline over language specifications guarantees that…
We describe and compare design choices for meta-predicate semantics, as found in representative Prolog module systems and in Logtalk. We look at the consequences of these design choices from a pragmatic perspective, discussing explicit…
Large pre-trained language models perform remarkably well on tasks that can be done "in one pass", such as generating realistic text or synthesizing computer programs. However, they struggle with tasks that require unbounded multi-step…
Self-adjusting computation offers a language-based approach to writing programs that automatically respond to dynamically changing data. Recent work made significant progress in developing sound semantics and associated implementations of…
Discrete mathematics is the foundation of computer science. It focuses on concepts and reasoning methods that are studied using math notations. It has long been argued that discrete math is better taught with programming, which takes…
We study the semantic foundation of expressive probabilistic programming languages, that support higher-order functions, continuous distributions, and soft constraints (such as Anglican, Church, and Venture). We define a metalanguage (an…