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More Advice on Proving a Compiler Correct: Improve a Correct Compiler

  • Conference paper
Declarative Programming, Sasbachwalden 1991

Part of the book series: Workshops in Computing ((WORKSHOPS COMP.))

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Abstract

One of the objectives of denotational semantics is to give a precise description of programming languages that can serve as a standard against which implementations can be verified, or preferably, from which correct compilers can be derived. We want to use a calculational approach to derive correct and efficient implementations for programming languages from their denotational descriptions. Experience [12] has shown that it is not a good idea to validate an implementation a posteriori, rather development and proof should proceed hand in hand. Besides the correctness aspect, a transformational approach can help to understand the relationships that may or may not exist between various implementations, or even suggest alternative methods. This paper provides a leisurely exposition on the development of a calculational approach to semantics directed compiler generation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Informatics Department, University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld Nijmegen, NL-6525 ED, The Netherlands

    Erik Meijer

Authors
  1. Erik Meijer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computing, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, 180 Queen’s Gate, SW7 2BZ, London, UK

    John Darlington BSc (Hons), PhD

  2. GMD Forschungsstelle, Universität Karlsruhe, Vincenz-Prießnitz-Straße 1, D-7500, Karlsruhe 1, Germany

    Roland Dietrich (Dr. rer. nat.) (Dr. rer. nat.)

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© 1992 Springer-Verlag London

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Meijer, E. (1992). More Advice on Proving a Compiler Correct: Improve a Correct Compiler. In: Darlington, J., Dietrich, R. (eds) Declarative Programming, Sasbachwalden 1991. Workshops in Computing. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3794-8_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3794-8_17

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-19735-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3794-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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