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Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai Cluj-Napoca
Facultatea de Matematică şi Informatică
Ciclul de studii: Masterat
Domeniul: Informatica
Programul de studii: Modelare si simulare - în limba engleză
Limba de predare: Engleză
SYLLABUS
I. General data
Code
Subject
MID1004
Formal Models in Programming Languages
Semester
2
Hours: C+S+L
2+1+0
Name and
surname
MOTOGNA Simona Claudia
Name and
surname
Category
speciality
Status
compulsory
II. Full status faculty members
Scientific Didactic
Chair
title
title
Ph.D.
Assoc.Pr Programming Languages
of.
and Methods
Associated faculty members
Scientific
Institution
title
Type of
position
Type of activity
C
*
S
L
Type of activity
C
S
L
III. Course objectives
The goal of this course is to introduce students to fundamental ideas behind the design and analysis of
modern programming languages. In the first part, we focus on the study of different approaches for
specifying models for programming languages. We will study semantic analysis inside a compiler
as a first formal model of the meaning associated with syntactical constructions, operational
semantics for specifying how programs compute, and denotational semantics for specifying what
programs compute.
In the end, the students should be able to:
- Explain the differences between informal and formal semantics of programming languages, and
between the operational and denotational and axiomatic approaches to formal semantics.
- Read a formal model for a small programming language, interpret it in informal terms, and predict
how a given program will behave according to the semantic definition.
- Carry out mathematical proofs of very simple properties of a language and particular programs,
given a formal model of the language.
IV. Course contents
The course will be structured in three big chapters, starting with an introduction to formal methods in
programming language specification. It will consist of: formal specification of syntactical
constructions inside a compiler, and then operational and denotational models for programming
languages. The course will propose models for language constructions, such as: types, expressions,
statements, functions, subtyping, and for different types of languages: imperative, functional,
logical, object-oriented. For different models the problem of semantic equivalence will be
discussed.
V. Bibliography
1. BAUER, F.L. - WOSSNER, H.: Algorithmic language and program development, Springer-Verlag,
Berlin,1982.
2. GRUNE, DICK - BAL, H. - JACOBS, C. - LANGENDOEN, K.: Modern Compiler Design, John
Wiley, 2000
3. GUNTER, C. -Semantics of programming languages, MIT Press, 1992
4. Hennessy, M. - The Semantics of Programming Languages. Wiley, 1990
5. MOTOGNA, S. - Metode de proiectare a compilatoarelor, Ed. Albastra, 2006
6. Schmidt,D.A. - Denotational semantics: a methodology for language development, William C.
Brown, 1986.
7.Winskel,G. - The Formal Semantics of Programming Languages: an introduction, MIT Press, 1993
VI. Thematic of didactic activities per weeks
1. Introduction – What is a formal method? Criteria for specifications. Specification methods [3,4]
2. Semantic analysis: Attribute grammars. [2,5]
3. L-attribute and S-attribute grammars. Attribute evaluator [2,5]
4. Manual methods [2,5]
Operational semantics:
5. Transition systems. The idea of structural operational semantics [3,7]
6. Transition semantics of a simple imperative language. Language design options. [3,7]
7. Rule-based inductive definitions and proofs [3,7]
8. Functions. Call-by-name and call-by-value function application, semantics and typing. [3,7]
9. Data. Semantics and typing for products, sums, records, references. [3,7]
10. Subtyping. Record subtyping and simple object encoding. [3,7]
11. Semantic equivalence. Semantic equivalence of phrases in a simple imperative language,
including the congruence property. Examples of equivalence and non-equivalence. [3,7]
Denotational semantics:
12. Introduction to lambda-calculus [4,6]
13. Denotational interpretation of an imperative language. [4,6]
14. Differences between operational and denotational semantics [4,6]
VII. Didactic methods used
The course is based on the following methods: exposure, conversation, didactical proof, modeling. The
seminar will focus on: algorithmization, discovery and case studies.
VIII. Assessment
The students will be asked to make a presentation of a paper from an additional reference and present it
in public, during seminar hours. Also during the semester that have to work on a project that will
implement one of the formal method presented in course for a mini-language they will specify. The
final grade will be computed based on the following algorithm:
- seminar activity 30%
- project 40%
- final exam 40%
Foe academic year 2008-2009, see
http://cs.ubbcluj.ro/~motogna/FormalModels.html
IX. Additional references
1. GIANNINI, P. - LONGO, G.: Effectively given domains and lambda-calculus semantics,
Information and Control, 62(1984) no. 1, pp. 36-63.
2. HOARE, C.A.R. - LAUER, P.: Consistent and Complementary definitions of the semantics of
programming languages, Acta Informatica, 1973 no.3, pp. 135-153.
3. LONGO, G.: Set-Theoretical models of Lambda-Calculus: Theories, Expansions, Isomorphisms,
Annals of Pure and Applied Logic, 1983 no.24, pp. 153-188.
Dean,
Date,
Chair head,
Course responsible,
Assoc.Prof. MOTOGNA Simona Claudia, Ph.D.