While the syntax of a programming language is always formally specified, the equally important aspect of defining its meaning is often left to natural language which is ambiguous and leaves questions open. In order to understand the inherent properties of a language (e.g. for constructing a compiler), we should have a deeper understanding. The goal of formal semantics is to reveal the essence of a language beneath its syntactic surface.

This is the first time that this course is provided. In the first part of the course we will descibe the basic techniques used for defining semantics. In the second part of the course we plan to cover semantics issues in the semantics of realistic languages like Java and C#.
 

Important Message

- C:\windows\Fonts - If you're on Win 9x
- C:\Winnt\fonts - If you're on NT

Alternatively, you can extract them anywhere, and install them via the control panel

Course Requirements

• Prepare course notes 10%
• Homework assignment 60%
• Final (home) exam 30%

Bibliography

• Glynn Winskel  The Formal Semantics of Programming Languages -- An Introduction, Foundations of Computing Series, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1994.
• Semantics with Applications by Nielson and Nielson
• M Hennessey,  The semantics of programming languages, Prentice Hall, 1990.

Course Schedule

1. February 20, Overview

Class notes by Gilad Arnold
2. February 27, Introduction to Operational Semantics

Class notes by Ronny Morad
3. March 6, No class
4. March 13, Inductive Definitions

Class notes by Vanya Rrubin
5. March 20,  Denotational Semantics (Part I)

Class notes by Shay Cohen
6. March 27,  Denotational Semantics (Part II)

Class notes by Daniel Urieli   rtf
7. April 4, Denotational Semantics (Part III)

Class notes by Ohad Brzilay
8. April 10,Axiomatic Semantics

Class notes by Danny Nebenzahl
9. May 8,Nondeterminism and Parallelism 
          Class notes by Dana Fisman
10. May 15, Java Concurrency a gentle introduction

Homework Assignments