[ Course Documents ] : [ Semantics ]

Previous Contents Next Keyword Index

Denotational vs. Operational

• Denotational semantics is similar to high-level operational semantics, except:
  • Machine is gone
  • Language is mathematics (lamda calculus)

• The difference between denotational and operational semantics:
  • In operational semantics, the state changes are defined by coded algorithms for a virtual machine
  • In denotational semantics, they are defined by rigorous mathematical functions