Denotational and operational semantics for prolog

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Denotational and operational semantics for prolog (1988)

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by Saumya K. Debray , Prateek Mishra

Venue:	Journal of Logic Programming
Citations:	56 - 4 self

BibTeX

@ARTICLE{Debray88denotationaland,
    author = {Saumya K. Debray and Prateek Mishra},
    title = {Denotational and operational semantics for prolog},
    journal = {Journal of Logic Programming},
    year = {1988},
    volume = {5},
    pages = {61--91}
}

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Abstract

Abstract: The semantics of Prolog programs is usually given in terms of the model theory of first order logic. However, this does not adequately characterize the computational behavior of Prolog programs. Prolog implementations typically use a sequential evaluation strategy based on the textual order of clauses and literals in a program, as well as non-logical features like ‘‘cut’’. In this work we develop a denotational semantics that captures the computational behavior of Prolog. We present a semantics for ‘‘cut-free’ ’ Prolog, which is then extended to Prolog with cut. For each case we develop a congruence proof that relates the semantics to a standard operational interpreter. As an application of our denotational semantics, we show the correctness of some standard ‘‘folk’ ’ theorems regarding transformations on Pro-log programs.

Keyphrases

operational semantics denotational semantics prolog program computational behavior standard folk theorem cut-free prolog textual order first order logic non-logical feature prolog implementation sequential evaluation strategy model theory pro-log program standard operational interpreter congruence proof

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