<p>A newbie question, if I may... Could you be so kind and explain to me in plain english meaning of 'denotational semantics' and 'operational semantics'? I'm familiar with the definitions and have read a lot of other material, but still struggling with these concepts. Probalby I need some use cases... or a practical exercise :)</p>

<p>How to define denotational and operational semantics for a given programming language? Can it be done for any language or there are any prereqs? What is the usual approach: if I have a description of a PL, for instance, how to build these two semantics for it? What should I start with? What should I get at the end of the exercise? </p>

<p>Many thanks...</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-23T14:48:50.467Z
See: http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3577/what-constitutes-denotational-semantics?rq=1, http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3670/formal-semantics-of-programming-languages?rq=1, and http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3533/books-on-programming-language-semantics?rq=1
Dave Clarke
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-02-23T14:52:10.260Z
As this question is not research-level theoretical computer science, and, in particular, because it has been answered before, I'm inclined to close it. Perhaps if you have a more specific question, you can ask on [CS.SE].
Dave Clarke
<type-theory><type-systems><denotational-semantics><operational-semantics>
Semantics of a programming language
svetlana
# Semantics of a programming language

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-02-23)

A newbie question, if I may... Could you be so kind and explain to me in plain english meaning of 'denotational semantics' and 'operational semantics'? I'm familiar with the definitions and have read a lot of other material, but still struggling with these concepts. Probalby I need some use cases... or a practical exercise :)

How to define denotational and operational semantics for a given programming language? Can it be done for any language or there are any prereqs? What is the usual approach: if I have a description of a PL, for instance, how to build these two semantics for it? What should I start with? What should I get at the end of the exercise?

Many thanks...

**Tags:** type-theory, type-systems, denotational-semantics, operational-semantics
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: See: http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3577/what-constitutes-denotational-semantics?rq=1, http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3670/formal-semantics-of-programming-languages?rq=1, and http://cstheory.stackexchange.com/questions/3533/books-on-programming-language-semantics?rq=1  
> **username_1**: As this question is not research-level theoretical computer science, and, in particular, because it has been answered before, I'm inclined to close it. Perhaps if you have a more specific question, you can ask on [CS.SE].  

---

## 0 answers

