2,364 research outputs found
Facilitating modular property-preserving extensions of programming languages
We will explore an approach to modular programming language descriptions and extensions in a denotational style.
Based on a language core, language features are added stepwise on the core. Language features can be described
separated from each other in a self-contained, orthogonal way. We present an extension semantics framework consisting
of mechanisms to adapt semantics of a basic language to new structural requirements in an extended language
preserving the behaviour of programs of the basic language. Common templates of extension are provided. These
can be collected in extension libraries accessible to and extendible by language designers. Mechanisms to extend
these libraries are provided. A notation for describing language features embedding these semantics extensions is
presented
Metric Semantics and Full Abstractness for Action Refinement and Probabilistic Choice
This paper provides a case-study in the field of metric semantics for probabilistic programming. Both an operational and a denotational semantics are presented for an abstract process language L_pr, which features action refinement and probabilistic choice. The two models are constructed in the setting of complete ultrametric spaces, here based on probability measures of compact support over sequences of actions. It is shown that the standard toolkit for metric semantics works well in the probabilistic context of L_pr, e.g. in establishing the correctness of the denotational semantics with respect to the operational one. In addition, it is shown how the method of proving full abstraction --as proposed recently by the authors for a nondeterministic language with action refinement-- can be adapted to deal with the probabilistic language L_pr as well
Harnessing Higher-Order (Meta-)Logic to Represent and Reason with Complex Ethical Theories
The computer-mechanization of an ambitious explicit ethical theory, Gewirth's
Principle of Generic Consistency, is used to showcase an approach for
representing and reasoning with ethical theories exhibiting complex logical
features like alethic and deontic modalities, indexicals, higher-order
quantification, among others. Harnessing the high expressive power of Church's
type theory as a meta-logic to semantically embed a combination of quantified
non-classical logics, our work pushes existing boundaries in knowledge
representation and reasoning. We demonstrate that intuitive encodings of
complex ethical theories and their automation on the computer are no longer
antipodes.Comment: 14 page
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