A Rewriting Logic Approach to Operational Semantics (Extended Abstract)1

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Abstract

This paper shows how rewriting logic semantics (RLS) can be used as a computational logic framework for operational semantic definitions of programming languages. Several operational semantics styles are addressed: big-step and small-step structural operational semantics (SOS), modular SOS, reduction semantics with evaluation contexts, and continuation-based semantics. Each of these language definitional styles can be faithfully captured as an RLS theory, in the sense that there is a one-to-one correspondence between computational steps in the original language definition and computational steps in the corresponding RLS theory. A major goal of this paper is to show that RLS does not force or pre-impose any given language definitional style, and that its flexibility and ease of use makes RLS an appealing framework for exploring new definitional styles.

Keywords

operational semantics
rewriting logic
programming languages

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1

Supported in part by NSF grants CCF-0234524, CCF-0448501, CNS-0509321, and CNS-05-24516; and by ONR Grant N00014-02-1-0715.