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Operational Semantics and Program Equivalence

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Applied Semantics (APPSEM 2000)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2395))

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Abstract

This tutorial paper discusses a particular style of operational semantics that enables one to give a ‘syntax-directed’ inductive definition of termination which is very useful for reasoning about operational equivalence of programs. We restrict attention to contextual equivalence of expressions in the ML family of programming languages, concentrating on functions involving local state. A brief tour of structural operational semantics culminates in a structural definition of termination via an abstract machine using ‘frame stacks’. Applications of this to reasoning about contextual equivalence are given.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cambridge University Computer Laboratory, Cambridge, CB2 3QG, UK

    Andrew M. Pitts

Authors
  1. Andrew M. Pitts
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Projet Lemme, INRIA Sophia-Antipolis, 2004 Route des Lucioles, BP 93, 06902, Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France

    Gilles Barthe

  2. Department of Computing Science, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96, Göteborg, Sweden

    Peter Dybjer

  3. Departamento de Matemática, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    Luís Pinto

  4. Departamento de Informática, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal

    João Saraiva

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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Pitts, A.M. (2002). Operational Semantics and Program Equivalence. In: Barthe, G., Dybjer, P., Pinto, L., Saraiva, J. (eds) Applied Semantics. APPSEM 2000. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2395. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45699-6_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45699-6_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-44044-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45699-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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