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Semantics Lectures at IBM Yorktown



This is a preliminary announcement; full version with titles and abstracts to
appear on TheoryNet.
------------------
              The Programming Languages and Foundations Department
                    of the IBM  T.J. Watson Research Center

              Announces a series of distinguished lectures on the

                       SEMANTICS OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES


          ------------------------------------------------------------
          January  26         Albert Meyer, MIT

   TITLE:  An Ultimate ``Kahn Principle'' for Dataflow Semantics

   ABSTRACT: Kahn showed in the mid-70's that dataflow nets whose nodes process
   inputs ``sequentially'' AND ``functionally'' can be analyzed by fixed-point
   reasoning on the domain of data-streams.  On the other hand, Brock-Ackermann
   observed in the late 70's the ``anomaly'' that for nondeterministic nodes
   such as MERGE, the data-stream input-output behavior of the nodes did not
   even uniquely determine the behavior of nets using such nodes.

   We report on some notable progress on the mathematical semantics of dataflow
   nets made recently by independent groups at Tel Aviv, MIT, and Cornell.  For
   example, Kahn's Least-Fixed Point Principle can now be extended to nets with
   non-sequential functional nodes, and Brock-Ackermann's anomaly can be culled
   from essentially any nonfunctional nodes.  This case study also illustrates
   the significance of such basic concepts in programming semantical as
   compositionality, observational congruence, and full abstraction.

          ------------------------------------------------------------
          February 23         Dana Scott, Carnegie Mellon University
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          March    23         Samson Abramsky, Imperial College
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          April    27         John Mitchell, Stanford University
          ------------------------------------------------------------
          May      25         John Reynolds, Carnegie Mellon University
          ------------------------------------------------------------


          Time: 3 PM
          Location: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Hawthorne, NY.

          Visitors are welcome.  Please make arrangements in advance by
          contacting the undersigned.

          Dr. Gyorgy Revesz
          IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
          P.O. Box 704
          Yorktown Heights, NY 10598

          (914) 789-7871























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