Operational semantics: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:55, 20 December 2020

Revision as of 04:10, 19 January 2021

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because the program could be [[Nondeterministic algorithm|nondeterministic]], and even for a deterministic program there can be many computation sequences since the semantics may not specify exactly what sequence of operations arrives at that value.)

Perhaps the first formal incarnation of operational semantics was the use of the [[lambda calculus]] to define the semantics of [[LISP]].<ref>{{Cite web| title=Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine, Part I| author=John McCarthy| author-link=John McCarthy (computer scientist)| url=http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/recursive.html| accessdateaccess-date=2006-10-13| url-status=dead| archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004215327/http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/recursive.html| archivedatearchive-date=2013-10-04}}</ref> [[Abstract machine]]s in the tradition of the [[SECD machine]] are also closely related.

== History ==