A methodology for creating models of binding policies
Jr. Charles Harold Dana · 1981
An attempt is made to study limited models of programming languages, concentrating solely on the binding policies of those languages instead of attempting to model all aspects of the language. It is argued that such a limited semantic model can be simpler to create and understand since it is tailored to the particular area of the language's semantics. Binding policies are selected to test the notion of limited semantics because they are an important but overly neglected area of programming language semantics. Criteria for judging binding modelling methodologies are presented. Existing methods are evaluated in light of these criteria and are found wanting. A new modelling methodology is defined, based on extentions to many-sorted algebras, a formally defined language called Paste, and a processor (language simulator) for that language. To formally define Paste, the notion of algebra homomorphism is extended to algebras of differing signatures and several novel operations on algebras are defined. To demonstrate the utility of the notion of a language simulator, an prototype simulator is built and shown to aid in the creation of binding models.