The Denotational Semantics of Programming Languages This paper is a tutorial introduction to the theory of programming language semantics developed by D. Scott and C. Strachey. The application of the theory to formal language specification is demonstrated and other applications are surveyed. The first language considered, LOOP, is very elementary and its definition merely introduces the notation and methodology of the approach. Then the semantic concepts of environments, stores, and continuations are introduced to model classes of programming language features and the underlying mathematical theory of computation due to Scott is motivated and outlined. Finally, the paper presents a formal definition of the language GEDANKEN. CACM August, 1976 Tennent, R. D. semantics, programming language, applicative, imperative, environment, store, continuation, theory of computation, higher-order function, recursive definition, LOOP, GEDANKEN 4.22 5.24 CA760802 JB January 4, 1978 10:33 AM 1024 4 2842 1051 4 2842 1086 4 2842 1102 4 2842 1132 4 2842 1132 4 2842 1234 4 2842 1263 4 2842 1265 4 2842 1270 4 2842 1323 4 2842 1358 4 2842 1379 4 2842 1380 4 2842 1390 4 2842 1453 4 2842 1464 4 2842 1484 4 2842 1486 4 2842 1491 4 2842 1498 4 2842 1549 4 2842 1613 4 2842 1614 4 2842 1706 4 2842 1781 4 2842 1825 4 2842 1826 4 2842 1860 4 2842 1878 4 2842 378 4 2842 2060 4 2842 2083 4 2842 2155 4 2842 2155 4 2842 2168 4 2842 2178 4 2842 2179 4 2842 2252 4 2842 2294 4 2842 2314 4 2842 2317 4 2842 2325 4 2842 2326 4 2842 2341 4 2842 2457 4 2842 2546 4 2842 2558 4 2842 2645 4 2842 2652 4 2842 2684 4 2842 2719 4 2842 2723 4 2842 2838 4 2842 2842 4 2842 2842 4 2842 2842 4 2842 2842 4 2842 2842 4 2842 2855 4 2842 2879 4 2842 2903 4 2842 2929 4 2842 2934 4 2842 3069 4 2842 3077 4 2842 3077 4 2842 3080 4 2842 3106 4 2842 3150 4 2842 627 4 2842 669 4 2842 679 4 2842 691 4 2842 761 4 2842 106 4 2842 949 4 2842 989 4 2842 210 5 2842 2060 5 2842 2148 5 2842 2192 5 2842 2837 5 2842 2842 5 2842 2842 5 2842 2842 5 2842 3150 5 2842 3184 5 2842 2060 6 2842 2704 6 2842 2784 6 2842 2842 6 2842 2842 6 2842 2939 6 2842 2940 6 2842 2941 6 2842 2943 6 2842 3073 6 2842 3148 6 2842