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Axiomatic Semantics
Axiomatic semantics is an approach based on mathematical logic for proving the correctness of computer programs. It is closely related to Hoare logic. Axiomatic semantics define the meaning of a command in a program by describing its effect on assertions about the program state. The assertions are logical statements—predicates with variables, where the variables define the state of the program. See also * Algebraic semantics (computer science) — in terms of algebras * Denotational semantics — by translation of the program into another language * Operational semantics — in terms of the state of the computation * Formal semantics of programming languages — overview * Predicate transformer semantics — describes the meaning of a program fragment as the function transforming a postcondition to the precondition needed to establish it. * Assertion (computing) In computer programming, specifically when using the imperative programming paradigm, an assertion is a predicate ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematical Logic
Mathematical logic is the study of logic, formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of formal systems of logic such as their expressive or deductive power. However, it can also include uses of logic to characterize correct mathematical reasoning or to establish foundations of mathematics. Since its inception, mathematical logic has both contributed to and been motivated by the study of foundations of mathematics. This study began in the late 19th century with the development of axiomatic frameworks for geometry, arithmetic, and Mathematical analysis, analysis. In the early 20th century it was shaped by David Hilbert's Hilbert's program, program to prove the consistency of foundational theories. Results of Kurt Gödel, Gerhard Gentzen, and others provided partial resolution to the program, and clarified the issues involved in pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Correctness Of Computer Programs
In theoretical computer science, an algorithm is correct with respect to a specification if it behaves as specified. Best explored is ''functional'' correctness, which refers to the input-output behavior of the algorithm (i.e., for each input it produces an output satisfying the specification). Within the latter notion, ''partial correctness'', requiring that ''if'' an answer is returned it will be correct, is distinguished from ''total correctness'', which additionally requires that an answer ''is'' eventually returned, i.e. the algorithm terminates. Correspondingly, to prove a program's total correctness, it is sufficient to prove its partial correctness, and its termination. The latter kind of proof (termination proof) can never be fully automated, since the halting problem is undecidable. For example, successively searching through integers 1, 2, 3, … to see if we can find an example of some phenomenon—say an odd perfect number—it is quite easy to write a par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoare Logic
Hoare logic (also known as Floyd–Hoare logic or Hoare rules) is a formal system with a set of logical rules for reasoning rigorously about the correctness of computer programs. It was proposed in 1969 by the British computer scientist and logician Tony Hoare, and subsequently refined by Hoare and other researchers. The original ideas were seeded by the work of Robert W. Floyd, who had published a similar system for flowcharts. Hoare triple The central feature of Hoare logic is the Hoare triple. A triple describes how the execution of a piece of code changes the state of the computation. A Hoare triple is of the form : \ C \ where P and Q are '' assertions'' and C is a ''command''.Hoare originally wrote "P\Q" rather than "\C\". P is named the ''precondition'' and Q the ''postcondition'': when the precondition is met, executing the command establishes the postcondition. Assertions are formulae in predicate logic. Hoare logic provides axioms and inference rules for all the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 games ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formal Semantics Of Programming Languages
In programming language theory, semantics is the rigorous mathematical study of the meaning of programming languages. Semantics assigns computational meaning to valid strings in a programming language syntax. Semantics describes the processes a computer follows when executing a program in that specific 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 be executed on a certain platform, hence creating a model of computation. History In 1967, Robert W. Floyd publishes the paper ''Assigning meanings to programs''; his chief aim is "a rigorous standard for proofs about computer programs, including proofs of correctness, equivalence, and termination". Floyd further writes: A semantic definition of a programming language, in our approach, is founded on a syntactic definition. It must specify which of the phrases in a syntactically correct program represent commands, and what conditions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Predicate Transformer Semantics
Predicate transformer semantics were introduced by Edsger Dijkstra in his seminal paper " Guarded commands, nondeterminacy and formal derivation of programs". They define the semantics of an imperative programming paradigm by assigning to each ''statement'' in this language a corresponding ''predicate transformer'': a total function between two ''predicates Predicate or predication may refer to: * Predicate (grammar), in linguistics * Predication (philosophy) * several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic: **Predicate (mathematical logic) **Propositional function **Finitary relation, ...'' on the state space of the statement. In this sense, predicate transformer semantics are a kind of denotational semantics. Actually, in guarded commands, Dijkstra uses only one kind of predicate transformer: the well-known weakest preconditions (see below). Moreover, predicate transformer semantics are a reformulation of Floyd–Hoare logic. Whereas Hoare logic is presented as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Postcondition
In computer programming, a postcondition is a condition or predicate that must always be true just after the execution of some section of code or after an operation in a formal specification. Postconditions are sometimes tested using assertions within the code itself. Often, postconditions are simply included in the documentation of the affected section of code. For example: The result of a factorial is always an integer and greater than or equal to 1. So a program that calculates the factorial of an input number would have postconditions that the result after the calculation be an integer and that it be greater than or equal to 1. Another example: a program that calculates the square root of an input number might have the postconditions that the result be a number and that its square be equal to the input. Postconditions in object-oriented programming In some software design approaches, postconditions, along with preconditions and class invariants, are components of the softwar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Precondition
In computer programming, a precondition is a condition or predicate that must always be true just prior to the execution of some section of code or before an operation in a formal specification. If a precondition is violated, the effect of the section of code becomes undefined and thus may or may not carry out its intended work. Security problems can arise due to incorrect preconditions. Often, preconditions are simply included in the documentation of the affected section of code. Preconditions are sometimes tested using guards or assertions within the code itself, and some languages have specific syntactic constructions for doing so. For example: the factorial is only defined for integers greater than or equal to zero. So a program that calculates the factorial of an input number would have preconditions that the number be an integer and that it be greater than or equal to zero. In object-oriented programming Preconditions in object-oriented software development are an es ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Assertion (computing)
In computer programming, specifically when using the imperative programming paradigm, an assertion is a predicate (a Boolean-valued function over the state space, usually expressed as a logical proposition using the variables of a program) connected to a point in the program, that always should evaluate to true at that point in code execution. Assertions can help a programmer read the code, help a compiler compile it, or help the program detect its own defects. For the latter, some programs check assertions by actually evaluating the predicate as they run. Then, if it is not in fact true – an assertion failure – the program considers itself to be broken and typically deliberately crashes or throws an assertion failure exception. Details The following code contains two assertions, x > 0 and x > 1, and they are indeed true at the indicated points during execution: x = 1; assert x > 0; x++; assert x > 1; Programmers can use assertions to help specify programs and to reas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axiomatic Semantics
Axiomatic semantics is an approach based on mathematical logic for proving the correctness of computer programs. It is closely related to Hoare logic. Axiomatic semantics define the meaning of a command in a program by describing its effect on assertions about the program state. The assertions are logical statements—predicates with variables, where the variables define the state of the program. See also * Algebraic semantics (computer science) — in terms of algebras * Denotational semantics — by translation of the program into another language * Operational semantics — in terms of the state of the computation * Formal semantics of programming languages — overview * Predicate transformer semantics — describes the meaning of a program fragment as the function transforming a postcondition to the precondition needed to establish it. * Assertion (computing) In computer programming, specifically when using the imperative programming paradigm, an assertion is a predicate ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |