Programming languages

Formal Semantics

• Denotational semantics -- map grammatical elements directly to mathematical functions
• Axiomatic semantics -- apply a system of axioms + deduction rules to the grammar
• Operational semantics -- map language constructs to a simple (well-defined) abstract machine
• Attribute grammars (Knuth, 1968) -- extensions of context-free grammars. An attribute grammar AG consists of:
  • a context-free grammar G
  • a finite set of attributes A
  • a finite set of semantic rules having form R : AG = (G, A, R ).

References

• Paaki's 1995 survey, Attribute Grammar Paradigms -- A High-Level Methodology in Language Implementation.

See Also

• Formal Languages