15312 | Foundations Of Programming Languages __top__

The "Dynamics" describe how a program steps from one state to the next. Using , you write rules that dictate exactly how an expression evaluates. This is where you learn about:

The formal logic behind garbage collection and resource allocation. 4. The Safety Theorem 15312 foundations of programming languages

When exactly does an argument get computed? The "Dynamics" describe how a program steps from

The "Statics" of a language define what it means for a program to be "well-formed" before it ever runs. You explore: You explore: The climax of the course is proving

The climax of the course is proving . Together, these two properties guarantee that if a program passes the type checker, it will either finish with a result or keep making progress—it will never crash or enter an undefined state. Why Study It?

The course focuses on the study of programming language phenomena using the tools of and Operational Semantics . Instead of looking at languages like Java or Python as monolithic tools, you learn to see them as a collection of "features" (functions, recursion, exceptions, parallelism) that can be formally defined and proven correct. The Pillars of the Course 1. Abstract Syntax