David A. Watt
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David A. Watt
David Anthony Watt (born 5 November 1946) is a British computer scientist. Watt is a professor at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. With Peter Mosses he developed action semantics, a combination of denotational semantics, operational and algebraic semantics. He currently teaches a third year programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...s course, and a postgraduate course on algorithms and data structures. He is recognisable around campus for his more formal attire compared to the department's normally casual dress code. References External links Home page* 1946 births Living people British computer scientists Academics of the University of Glasgow Formal methods people Place of birth missing (living people) {{formalmethods-st ...
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University Of Glasgow
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , mottoeng = The Way, The Truth, The Life , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment = £225.2 million , budget = £809.4 million , rector = Rita Rae, Lady Rae , chancellor = Dame Katherine Grainger , principal = Sir Anton Muscatelli , academic_staff = 4,680 (2020) , administrative_staff = 4,003 , students = () , undergrad = () , postgrad = () , city = Glasgow , country = Scotland, UK , colours = , website = , logo ...
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Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. It also contains more than 790 Islands of Scotland, islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. Most of the population, including the capital Edinburgh, is concentrated in the Central Belt—the plain between the Scottish Highlands and the Southern Uplands—in the Scottish Lowlands. Scotland is divided into 32 Subdivisions of Scotland, administrative subdivisions or local authorities, known as council areas. Glasgow, Glasgow City is the largest council area in terms of population, with Highland (council area), Highland being the largest in terms of area. Limi ...
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Peter Mosses
Peter David Mosses (born 1948) is a British computer scientist. Peter Mosses studied mathematics as an undergraduate at Trinity College, Oxford, and went on to undertake a DPhil supervised by Christopher Strachey in the Programming Research Group while at Wolfson College, Oxford in the early 1970s. He was the last student to submit his thesis under Strachey before Strachey's death. In 1978, Mosses published his compiler-compiler, the Semantic Implementation System (SIS), which uses a denotational semantics description of the input language.Peter Mosses, "SIS: A Compiler-Generator System Using Denotational Semantics," Report 78-4-3, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark, June 1978 Mosses has spent most of his career at BRICS in Denmark. He returned to a chair at Swansea University, Wales. His main contribution has been in the area of formal program semantics. In particular, with David Watt he developed action semantics, a combination of denotational, ope ...
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Action Semantics
Action semantics is a framework for the formal specification of semantics of programming languages invented by David Watt and Peter D. Mosses in the 1990s. It is a mixture of denotational, operational and algebraic semantics. Action Semantics aims to be pragmatic. Action-Semantic Descriptions (ASDs) are designed to scale up to handle realistic programming languages. This is aided by the extensibility and modifiability of ASDs. This helps to ensure that extensions and changes do not require too many changes in the description. This is in contrast to the typical case when extending denotational or operational semantics, which may require reformulation of the entire description. The Action Semantics framework was originally developed at the University of Aarhus and the University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis ...
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Denotational Semantics
In computer science, denotational semantics (initially known as mathematical semantics or Scott–Strachey semantics) is an approach of formalizing the meanings of programming languages by constructing mathematical objects (called ''denotations'') that describe the meanings of expressions from the languages. Other approaches providing formal semantics of programming languages include axiomatic semantics and operational semantics. Broadly speaking, denotational semantics is concerned with finding mathematical objects called domains that represent what programs do. For example, programs (or program phrases) might be represented by partial functionsDana S. ScottOutline of a mathematical theory of computation Technical Monograph PRG-2, Oxford University Computing Laboratory, Oxford, England, November 1970. Dana Scott and Christopher Strachey. ''Toward a mathematical semantics for computer languages'' Oxford Programming Research Group Technical Monograph. PRG-6. 1971. or by ga ...
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Operational Semantics
Operational semantics is a category of formal programming language semantics in which certain desired properties of a program, such as correctness, safety or security, are verified by constructing proofs from logical statements about its execution and procedures, rather than by attaching mathematical meanings to its terms (denotational semantics). Operational semantics are classified in two categories: structural operational semantics (or small-step semantics) formally describe how the ''individual steps'' of a computation take place in a computer-based system; by opposition natural semantics (or big-step semantics) describe how the ''overall results'' of the executions are obtained. Other approaches to providing a formal semantics of programming languages include axiomatic semantics and denotational semantics. The operational semantics for a programming language describes how a valid program is interpreted as sequences of computational steps. These sequences then ''are'' the m ...
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Algebraic Semantics (computer Science)
In computer science, algebraic semantics is a form of axiomatic semantics based on algebraic laws for describing and reasoning about program specifications in a formal manner. Syntax The syntax of an algebraic specification is formulated in two steps: (1) defining a formal signature of data types and operation symbols, and (2) interpreting the signature through sets and functions. Definition of a signature The signature of an algebraic specification defines its formal syntax. The word "signature" is used like the concept of "key signature" in musical notation. A signature consists of a set S of data types, known as sorts, together with a family \Sigma of sets, each set containing operation symbols (or simply symbols) that relate the sorts. We use \Sigma_ to denote the set of operation symbols relating the sorts s_1,~s_2,~...,~s_n \in S to the sort s \in S. For example, for the signature of integer stacks, we define two sorts, namely, int and stack, and the following famil ...
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Programming Language
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming language is usually split into the two components of syntax (form) and semantics (meaning), which are usually defined by a formal language. Some languages are defined by a specification document (for example, the C programming language is specified by an ISO Standard) while other languages (such as Perl) have a dominant Programming language implementation, implementation that is treated as a reference implementation, reference. Some languages have both, with the basic language defined by a standard and extensions taken from the dominant implementation being common. Programming language theory is the subfield of computer science that studies the design, implementation, analysis, characterization, and classification of programming lan ...
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1946 Births
Events January * January 6 - The first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into four occupation zones. * January 10 ** The first meeting of the United Nations is held, at Methodist Central Hall Westminster in London. ** '' Project Diana'' bounces radar waves off the Moon, measuring the exact distance between the Earth and the Moon, and proves that communication is possible between Earth and outer space, effectively opening the Space Age. * January 11 - Enver Hoxha declares the People's Republic of Albania, with himself as prime minister. * January 16 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as head of the French provisional government. * January 17 - The United Nations Security Council holds its first session, at Church House, Westminster in London. * January 19 ** The Bell XS-1 is test flown for the first time (unpowered), with Bell's chief test pilot Jack Woolams at th ...
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Living People
Related categories * :Year of birth missing (living people) / :Year of birth unknown * :Date of birth missing (living people) / :Date of birth unknown * :Place of birth missing (living people) / :Place of birth unknown * :Year of death missing / :Year of death unknown * :Date of death missing / :Date of death unknown * :Place of death missing / :Place of death unknown * :Missing middle or first names See also * :Dead people * :Template:L, which generates this category or death years, and birth year and sort keys. : {{DEFAULTSORT:Living people 21st-century people People by status ...
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British Computer Scientists
British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, the English language as spoken and written in the United Kingdom or, more broadly, throughout the British Isles * Celtic Britons, an ancient ethno-linguistic group * Brittonic languages, a branch of the Insular Celtic language family (formerly called British) ** Common Brittonic, an ancient language Other uses *'' Brit(ish)'', a 2018 memoir by Afua Hirsch *People or things associated with: ** Great Britain, an island ** United Kingdom, a sovereign state ** Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) ** United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922) See also * Terminology of the British Isles * Alternative names for the British * English (other) * Britannic (other) * British Isles * Brit (other) * ...
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Academics Of The University Of Glasgow
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and skill, north of Athens, Greece. Etymology The word comes from the ''Academy'' in ancient Greece, which derives from the Athenian hero, ''Akademos''. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning. The sacred space, dedicated to the goddess of wisdom, Athena, had formerly been an olive grove, hence the expression "the groves of Academe". In these gardens, the philosopher Plato conversed with followers. Plato developed his sessions into a method of teaching philosophy and in 387 BC, established what is known today as the Old Academy. By extension, ''academia'' has come to mean the acc ...
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