Structure

COURSE STRUCTURE Lectures are [ Thursdays 11:15 - 14:00 in Aud. F (1-534-125 ) ] and will progress according to the following overall (logical) structure: introduction; prerequisitional math; semantic descriptions; using semantic descriptions; applications of semantics; course evaluation; exam.

INTRODUCTION All about the course [see entire Semantics homepage]; My pedagogical choices (for which you may hold me responsible in the course evaluation at the end of the course). Keywords: { aims, goals, assessment, contents, relevance, philosophy, motivation, roles, teaching/learning, course evaluation, structure, schedule, material, classes }

PREREQUISITIONAL (DISCRETE) MATH Background knowledge needed for the rest of the course (some of you may already know some of this). Keywords: { relations, inference systems, transition systems, fixed points, automata, structural induction }

PART 1. SEMANTIC DESCRIPTIONS Based on your knowledge of programming languages (imperative and functional), you will be introduced to the "world of semantic models" (and how it relates to programs) in that...; You will learn how to describe, explain, and analyze (the semantics of) programs and programming languages. In this course we will focus mainly on structural operational semantics (as our semantic models). Keywords: { expressions, commands, definitions, declarations, big-step vs. small-step semantics, side-effects, laziness, termination, types, static semantics, dynamic semantics }

PART 2. USING SEMANTIC DESCRIPTIONS Now that you understand semantic descriptions, you will learn how to use them to understand whole new programming languages and paradigms. In this course, we will use a concurrency and communication modelling language, CCS, which may (and will) be used to model and understand concurrency and communication in Java. You will learn how to compare and reason about semantic descriptions. Keywords: { concurrency, communication, processes, channels, interleaving, synchronization, deadlock, modelling }

PART 3. APPLICATIONS OF SEMANTICS Now that you can describe, explain, analyze, compare, and reason about semantic models, we will go one step further in that...; You will learn how to use semantic descriptions to prove consequences of (properties, correctness) semantic desciptions; and how to apply semantic descriptions to understand programs and programming languages. You will also see how to describe imperative features and applications of semantics in the software industry. Keywords: { equivalence, equivalence relations, bisimulation, games, environment-store-model, declarations }

COURSE EVALUATION Your chance to give me constructive feedback (for me to improve the course).

EXAM Your chance to show what you have learned (cf. Aims and Goals). Note: Don't forget to sign up for the exam using the Student "Self-Service".

Claus Brabrand (August 26, 2005)