6,714 research outputs found

    Intensional and Extensional Semantics of Bounded and Unbounded Nondeterminism

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    We give extensional and intensional characterizations of nondeterministic functional programs: as structure preserving functions between biorders, and as nondeterministic sequential algorithms on ordered concrete data structures which compute them. A fundamental result establishes that the extensional and intensional representations of non-deterministic programs are equivalent, by showing how to construct a unique sequential algorithm which computes a given monotone and stable function, and describing the conditions on sequential algorithms which correspond to continuity with respect to each order. We illustrate by defining may and must-testing denotational semantics for a sequential functional language with bounded and unbounded choice operators. We prove that these are computationally adequate, despite the non-continuity of the must-testing semantics of unbounded nondeterminism. In the bounded case, we prove that our continuous models are fully abstract with respect to may and must-testing by identifying a simple universal type, which may also form the basis for models of the untyped lambda-calculus. In the unbounded case we observe that our model contains computable functions which are not denoted by terms, by identifying a further "weak continuity" property of the definable elements, and use this to establish that it is not fully abstract

    A Logic for Non-Deterministic Parallel Abstract State Machines

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    We develop a logic which enables reasoning about single steps of non-deterministic parallel Abstract State Machines (ASMs). Our logic builds upon the unifying logic introduced by Nanchen and St\"ark for reasoning about hierarchical (parallel) ASMs. Our main contribution to this regard is the handling of non-determinism (both bounded and unbounded) within the logical formalism. Moreover, we do this without sacrificing the completeness of the logic for statements about single steps of non-deterministic parallel ASMs, such as invariants of rules, consistency conditions for rules, or step-by-step equivalence of rules.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1602.0748

    The dome: An unexpectedly simple failure of determinism

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    Newton's equations of motion tell us that a mass at rest at the apex of a dome with the shape specified here can spontaneously move. It has been suggested that this indeterminism should be discounted since it draws on an incomplete rendering of Newtonian physics, or it is "unphysical," or it employs illicit idealizations. I analyze and reject each of these reasons. Copyright 2008 by the Philosophy of Science Association. All rights reserved

    Forward Analysis and Model Checking for Trace Bounded WSTS

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    We investigate a subclass of well-structured transition systems (WSTS), the bounded---in the sense of Ginsburg and Spanier (Trans. AMS 1964)---complete deterministic ones, which we claim provide an adequate basis for the study of forward analyses as developed by Finkel and Goubault-Larrecq (Logic. Meth. Comput. Sci. 2012). Indeed, we prove that, unlike other conditions considered previously for the termination of forward analysis, boundedness is decidable. Boundedness turns out to be a valuable restriction for WSTS verification, as we show that it further allows to decide all ω\omega-regular properties on the set of infinite traces of the system

    Exploring the Boundaries of Monad Tensorability on Set

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    We study a composition operation on monads, equivalently presented as large equational theories. Specifically, we discuss the existence of tensors, which are combinations of theories that impose mutual commutation of the operations from the component theories. As such, they extend the sum of two theories, which is just their unrestrained combination. Tensors of theories arise in several contexts; in particular, in the semantics of programming languages, the monad transformer for global state is given by a tensor. We present two main results: we show that the tensor of two monads need not in general exist by presenting two counterexamples, one of them involving finite powerset (i.e. the theory of join semilattices); this solves a somewhat long-standing open problem, and contrasts with recent results that had ruled out previously expected counterexamples. On the other hand, we show that tensors with bounded powerset monads do exist from countable powerset upwards
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