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Conceptualising Programming Language Semantics

Troy Astarte

Philosophies, Volume: 10, Issue: 4, Start page: 90

Swansea University Author: Troy Astarte

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DOI (Published version): 10.3390/philosophies10040090

Abstract

The semantics of programming languages tend to be discussed with high levels of formality; much of the previous research—both philosophical and historical—has investigated them from this perspective. In this paper, I draw on the philosophical and cognitive theories of metaphor and use the early work...

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Published in: Philosophies
ISSN: 2409-9287
Published: Basel, Switzerland MDPI AG 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70136
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spelling 2025-09-17T16:23:04.8834999 v2 70136 2025-08-08 Conceptualising Programming Language Semantics e27e50656bd09f48772e6370ee7edae7 Troy Astarte Troy Astarte true false 2025-08-08 MACS The semantics of programming languages tend to be discussed with high levels of formality; much of the previous research—both philosophical and historical—has investigated them from this perspective. In this paper, I draw on the philosophical and cognitive theories of metaphor and use the early work of Adriaan van Wijngaarden as a historical case study to explore the conceptual and discursive surroundings of semantics. I investigate the relationships between the texts of semantics, the abstract entities they denote, and the metaphors, analogies, and illustrative language used to accompany or explain the same. This serves to further understanding of the historical developments of work in this area, the nature of programming languages and their semantics, and the importance of the communicative methods used in dissemination and education of computer science. Journal Article Philosophies 10 4 90 MDPI AG Basel, Switzerland 2409-9287 programming languages; semantics; computer science; metaphor; van Wijngaarden; machines; machine language; programming; IFIP; ALGOL 9 8 2025 2025-08-09 10.3390/philosophies10040090 COLLEGE NANME Mathematics and Computer Science School COLLEGE CODE MACS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee This work was supported by EPSRC grant EP/Z000580/1. 2025-09-17T16:23:04.8834999 2025-08-08T12:04:19.9521610 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Mathematics and Computer Science - Computer Science Troy Astarte 1 70136__34952__15c3db4e623b450bb7d2bc1b56050c4f.pdf Astarte2025Conceptualising.pdf 2025-08-14T17:50:07.3298119 Output 932504 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 by the author. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Conceptualising Programming Language Semantics
spellingShingle Conceptualising Programming Language Semantics
Troy Astarte
title_short Conceptualising Programming Language Semantics
title_full Conceptualising Programming Language Semantics
title_fullStr Conceptualising Programming Language Semantics
title_full_unstemmed Conceptualising Programming Language Semantics
title_sort Conceptualising Programming Language Semantics
author_id_str_mv e27e50656bd09f48772e6370ee7edae7
author_id_fullname_str_mv e27e50656bd09f48772e6370ee7edae7_***_Troy Astarte
author Troy Astarte
author2 Troy Astarte
format Journal article
container_title Philosophies
container_volume 10
container_issue 4
container_start_page 90
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 2409-9287
doi_str_mv 10.3390/philosophies10040090
publisher MDPI AG
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Mathematics and Computer Science - Computer Science{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Mathematics and Computer Science - Computer Science
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description The semantics of programming languages tend to be discussed with high levels of formality; much of the previous research—both philosophical and historical—has investigated them from this perspective. In this paper, I draw on the philosophical and cognitive theories of metaphor and use the early work of Adriaan van Wijngaarden as a historical case study to explore the conceptual and discursive surroundings of semantics. I investigate the relationships between the texts of semantics, the abstract entities they denote, and the metaphors, analogies, and illustrative language used to accompany or explain the same. This serves to further understanding of the historical developments of work in this area, the nature of programming languages and their semantics, and the importance of the communicative methods used in dissemination and education of computer science.
published_date 2025-08-09T05:30:04Z
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score 11.089572

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