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Semantics of under-determined expressions

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Formal Aspects of Computing

Abstract

Some specification languages, such as VDM-SL, allow expressions whose values are not fully determined. This may be convenient in cases where the choice of value should be left to a later stage of development.

We consider a simple functional language including such under-determined expressions and present a denotational semantics for the language along with a set of proof rules for reasoning about properties of under-determined expressions. One of the specific problems considered is the combination of under-determinedness and a least fixed point semantics of recursion. Soundness of the proof rules is also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IFAD, The Institute of Applied Computer Science, Forskerparken 10, DK-5230, Odense M, Denmark

    Peter Gorm Larsen

  2. Department of Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark

    Bo Stig Hansen

Authors
  1. Peter Gorm Larsen
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  2. Bo Stig Hansen
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Larsen, P.G., Hansen, B.S. Semantics of under-determined expressions. Formal Aspects of Computing 8, 47–66 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01211050

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01211050

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