Current Topics in Program Semantics

Form:	Seminar - 3 CP (2 SWS)
Organizer:	Prof. Dr. Heiko Mantel
Contact:	Markus Tasch
Time and place:	Block Seminar on 1 or 2 days (exact days will be announced in the preparation meeting)
Language:	English
Registration:	via TUCaN, course id 20-00-1009-se
Max. participants:	20
Literature:	will be announced during the preparation meeting
Preparation Meeting:	Thursday 19.10.2017, 16:15-17:55 in A313

Material

Will be made available in the course internal area.

Content

In this seminar we will discuss research articles on different aspects of program semantics. Example topics include:

• sequential program semantics,
• concurrent program semantics,
  
• instrumented program semantics,
• testing of program semantics, and
  
• verification based on program semantics.

Formal program semantics are used to gain a clear understanding of properties of programs. Among other benefits, such semantics enable the design and implementation of program analyses that can be used to verify certain program properties. While the increasing complexity of programming languages (e.g. support for concurrent and distributed systems) makes formal program semantics even more desirable, it also makes the formalization of program semantics a more challenging task.

Learning Objectives

After successfully participating in this course, the students will be able to discuss recent developments in the area of program semantics. Furthermore, the students will have improved their skills in reading and understanding scientific articles and in presenting, discussing, and comparing scientific results.

Prerequisites

Knowledge of Computer Science and Mathematics, equivalent to the first four Semesters in the Computer Science Bachelor program, in particular of formal languages and calculi as well as logic.