Semantics (computer science)

In programming language theory, semantics is the eld

concerned with the rigorous mathematical study of the
meaning of programming languages. It does so by evaluating the meaning of syntactically legal strings dened by
a specic programming language, showing the computation involved. In such a case that the evaluation would be
of syntactically illegal strings, the result would be noncomputation. Semantics describes the processes a computer follows when executing a program in that specic
language. This can be shown by describing the relationship between the input and output of a program, or an
explanation of how the program will execute on a certain
platform, hence creating a model of computation.

a conceptual meaning that can be thought of abstractly. Such denotations are often mathematical
objects inhabiting a mathematical space, but it is not
a requirement that they should be so. As a practical necessity, denotations are described using some
form of mathematical notation, which can in turn
be formalized as a denotational metalanguage. For
example, denotational semantics of functional languages often translate the language into domain theory. Denotational semantic descriptions can also
serve as compositional translations from a programming language into the denotational metalanguage
and used as a basis for designing compilers.

Formal semantics, for instance, helps to write compilers,

better understand what a program is doing and to prove,
e.g., that the following if statement

Operational semantics, whereby the execution of

the language is described directly (rather than by
translation). Operational semantics loosely corresponds to interpretation, although again the implementation language of the interpreter is generally
a mathematical formalism. Operational semantics
may dene an abstract machine (such as the SECD
machine), and give meaning to phrases by describing the transitions they induce on states of the machine. Alternatively, as with the pure lambda calculus, operational semantics can be dened via syntactic transformations on phrases of the language itself;

if 1 = 1 then S1 else S2
has the same eect as S1 alone.

Overview

The eld of formal semantics encompasses all of the following:

Axiomatic semantics, whereby one gives meaning

to phrases by describing the logical axioms that apply to them. Axiomatic semantics makes no distinction between a phrases meaning and the logical formulas that describe it; its meaning is exactly what
can be proven about it in some logic. The canonical
example of axiomatic semantics is Hoare logic.

The denition of semantic models

The relations between dierent semantic models
The relations between dierent approaches to
meaning
The relation between computation and the underlying mathematical structures from elds such as
logic, set theory, model theory, category theory, etc.

The distinctions between the three broad classes of approaches can sometimes be vague, but all known apIt has close links with other areas of computer sci- proaches to formal semantics use the above techniques,
ence such as programming language design, type the- or some combination thereof.
ory, compilers and interpreters, program verication and
Apart from the choice between denotational, operational,
model checking.
or axiomatic approaches, most variation in formal semantic systems arises from the choice of supporting mathematical formalism.

Approaches

There are many approaches to formal semantics; these

belong to three major classes:

3 Variations

Denotational semantics, whereby each phrase in Some variations of formal semantics include the followthe language is interpreted as a denotation, i.e. ing:
1

8 FURTHER READING
Action semantics is an approach that tries to modlow-level machine faithfully implements the highularize denotational semantics, splitting the formallevel machine.
ization process in two layers (macro and microsemantics) and predening three semantic entities (ac- It is also possible to relate multiple semantics through
tions, data and yielders) to simplify the specication; abstractions via the theory of abstract interpretation.
Algebraic semantics is a form of axiomatic semantics based on algebraic laws for describing and reasoning about program semantics in a formal manner;

5 History

Attribute grammars dene systems that systematiRobert W. Floyd is credited with founding the eld of
cally compute "metadata" (called attributes) for the
programming language semantics in Floyd (1967).[1]
various cases of the languages syntax. Attribute
grammars can be understood as a denotational semantics where the target language is simply the
original language enriched with attribute annota- 6 See also
tions. Aside from formal semantics, attribute grammars have also been used for code generation in
Formal semantics (logic)
compilers, and to augment regular or context-free
Formal semantics (linguistics)
grammars with context-sensitive conditions;
Categorical (or functorial) semantics uses
category theory as the core mathematical formalism;
Concurrency semantics is a catch-all term for any
formal semantics that describes concurrent computations. Historically important concurrent formalisms have included the Actor model and process
calculi;
Game semantics uses a metaphor inspired by game
theory.
Predicate transformer semantics, developed by
Edsger W. Dijkstra, describes the meaning of a
program fragment as the function transforming a
postcondition to the precondition needed to establish it.

Describing relationships

For a variety of reasons, one might wish to describe the

relationships between dierent formal semantics. For example:
To prove that a particular operational semantics for
a language satises the logical formulas of an axiomatic semantics for that language. Such a proof
demonstrates that it is sound to reason about a
particular (operational) interpretation strategy using
a particular (axiomatic) proof system.
To prove that operational semantics over a high-level
machine is related by a simulation with the semantics over a low-level machine, whereby the low-level
abstract machine contains more primitive operations
than the high-level abstract machine denition of a
given language. Such a proof demonstrates that the

7 References
[1] Knuth, Donald E. Memorial Resolution: Robert W.
Floyd (1936-2001)" (PDF). Stanford University Faculty
Memorials. Stanford Historical Society.

Floyd, Robert W. (1967). Assigning Meanings to

Programs (PDF). In Schwartz, J.T. Mathematical
Aspects of Computer Science. Proceedings of Symposium on Applied Mathematics 19. American Mathematical Society. pp. 1932. ISBN
0821867288.

8 Further reading
Textbooks
Aaron Stump, Programming Language Foundations.
Wiley, 2014 (ISBN 978-1-118-00747-1)
Carl Gunter. Semantics of Programming Languages.
MIT Press, 1992. (ISBN 0-262-07143-6)
Robert Harper. Practical Foundations for Programming Languages. Working draft, 2006. (online, as
PDF)
Shriram Krishnamurthi. Programming Languages:
Application and Interpretation. (online, as PDF)
Mitchell, John C.. Foundations for Programming
Languages.
John C. Reynolds. Theories of Programming Languages. Cambridge University Press, 1998. (ISBN
0-521-59414-6)

3
Kenneth Slonneger and Barry L. Kurtz. Formal
Syntax and Semantics of Programming Languages.
Addison-Wesley.
Glynn Winskel. The Formal Semantics of Programming Languages: An Introduction. MIT Press, 1993
(paperback ISBN 0-262-73103-7)
Robert D. Tennent (1991). Semantics of Programming Languages. Prentice-Hall.
M. Hennessy (1990) The Semantics of Programming
Languages: An Elementary Introduction. Wiley.
H. Nielson and F. Nielson (1993) Semantics with Applications. A formal Introduction. Wiley.
H. Nielson and F. Nielson (2007) Semantics with Applications: An Appetizer. Undergraduate Texts in
Computer Science. Springer.
Lecture notes
Glynn Winskel. Denotational Semantics. University
of Cambridge.

External links
Aaby, Anthony (2004). Introduction to Programming Languages. Semantics.

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