CSC535: Overview: Why study semantics? [2/21]

• To prove specific properties of particular programs (i.e., program verification)
  • Still fairly labor-intensive
  • But important in some domains (safety-critical systems, hardware design, security protocols, inner loops of key algorithms, ...)
• To develop intuitions for informal reasoning about programs
• To prove general facts about all the programs in a given programming language (e.g., safety or isolation properties)
• To deeply understand language features (and their interactions) and develop principles for better language design