Description:
This book sets unites the various formalisms that define a programming language: 'small steps' operational semantics, 'big steps' operational semantics, and denotational semantics. It illustrates them with typical features of programming languages.
Review Quotes:
From the reviews:
"The book is divided into eight chapters and an epilogue. ... Faculty teaching an undergraduate programming languages course may find this book to be a useful reference. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners." (J. Beidler, Choice, Vol. 48 (10), June, 2011)
"It is a short book--of about 100 pages--consisting of eight chapters and an epilogue. The book focuses on the formal description of programming language semantics and compilation using denotational semantics, small-step operational semantics (reduction semantics), and big-step operational semantics (natural semantics). ... The book provides a good description of programming language concepts and motivates the necessary theory well. ... The book is suitable for both professionals and graduate- and advanced undergraduate-level classes." (Michael Oudshoorn, ACM Computing Reviews, November, 2011)