Paper Info
Title
Mind the Gap! Abstract Versus Concrete Models of Specifications
Abstract
In the theory of algebraic specications, many-sorted algebras are used to model programs: the representation of data is arbitrary and operations are mod- elled as ordinary functions. The theory that underlies the formal development of programs from specications takes advantage of the many useful properties that these models enjoy. The models that underlie the semantics of programming languages are dif- ferent. For example, the semantics of Standard ML uses rather concrete models, where data values are represented as closed constructor terms and functions are represented as \closures". The properties of these models are quite dierent from those of many-sorted algebras. This discrepancy brings into question the applicability of the theory of speci- cation and formal program development in the context of a concrete program- ming language, as has been attempted in the Extended ML framework for the formal development of Standard ML programs. This paper is a preliminary study of the dierence between abstract and concrete models of specications, inspired by the kind of concrete models used in the semantics of Standard ML, in an attempt to determine the consequences of the discrepancy.
Year
DOI
Venue
1996
10.1007/3-540-61550-4_143
MFCS
Keywords
Field
DocType
abstract versus concrete models
Operational semantics,Second-generation programming language,Programming language,Algebraic number,Computer science,Denotational semantics,Formal development,Theoretical computer science
Conference
Volume
ISSN
ISBN
1113
0302-9743
3-540-61550-4
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
3
0.54
11
Authors
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Donald Sannella11417134.34
Andrzej Tarlecki21514124.61