Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!PROOF.ERGO.CS.CMU.EDU!rwh From: rwh@PROOF.ERGO.CS.CMU.EDU (Robert Harper) Newsgroups: comp.theory Subject: Re: Actual use of formal semantics in languages Message-ID: Date: 26 Jul 90 18:32:15 GMT References: <9864@hubcap.clemson.edu> Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI Lines: 19 steve@hubcap.clemson.edu ("Steve" Stevenson) writes: >Does anyone know of the actual use of any formal semantics techniques >in describing a common language for which there is a standard >(e.g. C, Fortan, Cobol, Pascal) and such description is subsequently >used for a commercially available implementation? "The Definition of Standard ML" by Robin Milner, Mads Tofte, and Robert Harper, MIT Press, 1990. There are several implementations, some public-domain (SML/NJ), some commericial products (Abstract Hardware Ltd's SML). The relationship between the formal semantics and an implementation has been a topic of active discussion. -- Robert Harper School of Computer Science Net: rwh@cs.cmu.edu Carnegie Mellon University Phone: +1 412 268 3675 Pittsburgh, PA 15213