[Next][Index][Thread]
Semantics Lectures at IBM Yorktown
This is a preliminary announcement; full version with titles and abstracts to
appear on TheoryNet.
------------------
The Programming Languages and Foundations Department
of the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Announces a series of distinguished lectures on the
SEMANTICS OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
------------------------------------------------------------
January 26 Albert Meyer, MIT
TITLE: An Ultimate ``Kahn Principle'' for Dataflow Semantics
ABSTRACT: Kahn showed in the mid-70's that dataflow nets whose nodes process
inputs ``sequentially'' AND ``functionally'' can be analyzed by fixed-point
reasoning on the domain of data-streams. On the other hand, Brock-Ackermann
observed in the late 70's the ``anomaly'' that for nondeterministic nodes
such as MERGE, the data-stream input-output behavior of the nodes did not
even uniquely determine the behavior of nets using such nodes.
We report on some notable progress on the mathematical semantics of dataflow
nets made recently by independent groups at Tel Aviv, MIT, and Cornell. For
example, Kahn's Least-Fixed Point Principle can now be extended to nets with
non-sequential functional nodes, and Brock-Ackermann's anomaly can be culled
from essentially any nonfunctional nodes. This case study also illustrates
the significance of such basic concepts in programming semantical as
compositionality, observational congruence, and full abstraction.
------------------------------------------------------------
February 23 Dana Scott, Carnegie Mellon University
------------------------------------------------------------
March 23 Samson Abramsky, Imperial College
------------------------------------------------------------
April 27 John Mitchell, Stanford University
------------------------------------------------------------
May 25 John Reynolds, Carnegie Mellon University
------------------------------------------------------------
Time: 3 PM
Location: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Hawthorne, NY.
Visitors are welcome. Please make arrangements in advance by
contacting the undersigned.
Dr. Gyorgy Revesz
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
P.O. Box 704
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
(914) 789-7871
1