. In this paper, we develop a theory of higher-order computability suitable for comparing the expressiveness of sequential, deterministic programming languages. The theory is based on the construction of a new universal domain T and corresponding universal language KL. The domain T is universal for observably sequential domains; KL can define all the computable elements of T, including the elements corresponding to computable observably sequential functions. In addition, domain embeddings in T preserve the maximality of finite elements---preserving the termination behavior of programs over the embedded domains. 1 Background and Motivation Classic recursion theory [7, 13, 18] asserts that all conventional programming languages are equally expressive because they can define all partial recursive functions over the natural numbers. This statement, however, is misleading because real programming languages support and enforce a more abstract view of data than bitstrings. In particular, mo...

Semantics of programming languages and interactive environments for the development of proofs and programs are two important aspects of Gilles Kahn’s scientific contributions. In his paper “The semantics of a simple language for parallel programming ” [11], he proposed an interpretation of (deterministic) parallel programs (now called Kahn networks) as stream transformers based on the theory of complete partial orders (cpos). A restriction of this language to synchronous programs is the basis of the data-flow Lustre language which is used for the development of critical embedded systems [14, 10]. We present a formalization of this seminal paper in the Coq proof assistant [4, 15]. For that purpose, we developed a general library for cpos. Our cpos are defined with an explicit function computing the least upper bound (lub) of an increasing sequence of elements. This is different from what G. Kahn developed for the standard Coq library where only the existence of lubs (for arbitrary directed sets) is required, giving no way to explicitly compute a fixpoint. We define a cpo structure for the type of possibly infinite streams. It is then possible to define formally what is a Kahn network and what is its semantics, achieving the goal of having a concept closed by composition and recursion. The library is illustrated by the example taken from the original paper as well as the Sieve of Eratosthenes, an example of a dynamic network. 1

Abstract. We study orderings ✂S on reductions in the style of Lévy reflecting the growth of information w.r.t. (super)stable sets S of ‘values’ (such as head-normal forms or Böhm-trees). We show that sets of co-initial reductions ordered by ✂S form finitary ω-algebraic complete lattices, and hence form computation and Scott domains. As a consequence, we obtain a relativized version of the computational semantics proposed by Boudol for term rewriting systems. Furthermore, we give a pure domain-theoretic characterization of the orderings ✂S in the spirit of Kahn and Plotkin’s concrete domains. These constructions are carried out in the framework of Stable Deterministic Residual Structures, which are abstract reduction systems with an axiomatized residual relations on redexes, that model all orthogonal (or conflict-free) reduction systems as well as many other interesting computation structures. 1

This paper proposes two semantics of a probabilistic variant of the π-calculus: an interleaving semantics in terms of Segala automata and a true concurrent semantics, in terms of probabilistic event structures. The key technical point is a use of types to identify a good class of non-deterministic probabilistic behaviours which can preserve a compositionality of the parallel operator in the event structures and the calculus. We show an operational correspondence between the two semantics. This allows us to prove a “probabilistic confluence” result, which generalises the confluence of the linearly typed π-calculus.

Increasingly, the style of computation is changing. Instead of one machine running a program sequentially, we have systems with many individual agents running in parallel. The need for mathematical models of such computations is therefore ever greater. There are many models of concurrent computations. Such models can, for example, provide a semantics to process calculi and thereby suggest behavioural equivalences between processes. They are also key to the development of automated tools for reasoning about concurrent systems. In this thesis we explore some applications and generalisations of one particular model – event structures. We describe a variety of kinds of morphism between event structures. Each kind expresses a different sort of behavioural relationship. We demonstrate the way in which event structures can model both processes and types of processes by recalling a semantics for Affine HOPLA, a higher order process language. This is given in terms of asymmetric spans of event structures. We show that such spans support a trace construction. This allows the modelling of feedback and suggests a semantics for non-deterministic dataflow processes in terms of spans. The semantics given is shown to be consistent with Kahn’s fixed point construction when we consider spans modelling deterministic processes. A generalisation of event structures to include persistent events is proposed. Based on previously described morphisms between classical event structures, we define several categories of event structures with persistence. We show that, unlike for the corresponding categories of classical event structures, all are isomorphic to Kleisli categories of monads

Modularity reflects the Frege Principle: any two expressions expr 1 and expr 2 which have the same meaning (semantics) can be replaced by each other in every appropriate context C[ ] without changing the meaning of the overall expression. In [18] we identified observable relations and nets of observable relations as appropriate tools for the investigation of dataflow networks over nondeterministic agents. The observable relations are the Input-Output behaviors of (in general nondeterministic) dataflow agents. Moreover, the semantics of nets of observable relations is consistent with the input-output behavior of dataflow agents. In [18, 19] we showed that the main source of the Brock-Ackerman anomaly [2] is in the semantics of nets of relations. But it turns out that this semantics is not modular. The central objective of this paper is the characterization of modular classes of relations and hence indirectly the set of dataflow nets without anomalies. Another major theme which plays a ...

We investigate transfinite reductions in abstract reduction systems. To this end, we study two abstract models for transfinite reductions: a metric model generalising the usual metric approach to infinitary term rewriting and a novel partial order model. For both models we distinguish between a weak and a strong variant of convergence as known from infinitary term rewriting. Furthermore, we introduce an axiomatic model of reductions that is general enough to cover all of these models of transfinite reductions as well as the ordinary model of finite reductions. It is shown that, in this unifying axiomatic model, many basic relations between termination and confluence properties known from finite reductions still hold. The introduced models are applied to term rewriting but also to term graph rewriting. We can show that for both term rewriting as well as for term graph rewriting the partial order model forms a conservative extension to the metric model.

Curien defined the sequential algorithms as mathematical objects. For all Distributive Concrete Data Structure (dcds) M, M', he defines a dcds M M', the states of which are the sequential algorithms from M to M'. For all cds's M and M' that are, in particular, webs of coherence spaces, we define the linear algorithm as a state of a cds denoted by !M$M'. Given a stable function f: M M', we can obtain a linear algorithm that contains all the strategies of computation for computing f. In fact, this linear algorithm can be considered as a "meta-algorithm". We define a strategy of computation so as one can use such notion to give compositional operational semantics to programs segments. 1

In [ZHA 89] Zhang presents a relation between coherence spaces (that were introduced by Girard [GIR 89] for modelling the system F and to give a semantic for linear logic) and event domains [WIN 81] using theory of categories. In this paper we give a characterization of the relation between coherence spaces, event domains and concrete domains [KAH 93], as well as a relation between the "concrete counterparts" of these domains: webs of coherence spaces, event structures and concrete data structures (cds). According to Zhang [ZHA 89, p. 156], a coherence space can be seen as a particular case of dI-domains 2 and of event structures too. With respect to the second "characterization" of coherence spaces (related with event structures), we show that the former are related with event domains (the abstract counterpart of the event structures) and not with the event structures as asserts Zhang. The results are presented by twelve propositions and theorems 1

and semantics