A formal approach to the teaching of programming language concepts

Authors:
Andrew Kitchen
Affiliations:
Department of Computer Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Venue:
ACM SIGPLAN Notices
Year:
1998

Citing 6
Cited 1

Lambda-calculus combinators and functional programming

Lambda-calculus combinators and functional programming
Concepts of programming languages

Concepts of programming languages
Realistic compiler generation

Realistic compiler generation
Introduction to the theory of programming languages

Introduction to the theory of programming languages
The formal semantics of programming languages: an introduction

The formal semantics of programming languages: an introduction
The anatomy of programming languages

The anatomy of programming languages

Effectiveness of a language implementation project in building appreciation for formal specification

Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges - Papers of the twelfth annual CCSC Northeastern Conference

Quantified Score

Hi-index	0.00

Visualization

Abstract

While the power of formal semantics is well recognized, it is not usually considered a teaching tool. This paper describes the use of denotational semantics in a course on programming language design for beginning graduate students. The course introduces the semantic and implementation issues underlying such concepts as naming, block structure, scope rules, parameter passing, flow control, and exception handling. The approach taken is to specify the semantics of these mechanisms, using a simplified form of denotational semantics, and use these descriptions as the basis for discussion. Implementations are developed from the specifications, and are available to students for experimentation.