A Categorical Model of State Transformations in Programming Languages

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Authors: M. Kohútová, W. Steingartner, S. Novotný
Cited by: 1
References: 20

Abstract

Abstract Formal semantics of programming languages represents a basic formal method connecting theoretical foundations of computer science with the development of reliable software. It allows for rigorous analysis of the correctness and properties of programs independently of the implementation. When formulating it, it is necessary to respect the principles of the programming paradigm, which determines the basic abstractions of the language. At the same time, there are unifying formalisms that allow for systematic comparison of semantic definitions across paradigms. Category theory represents one of the most important such approaches. We formalize this perspective by introducing a general categorical model of state transformations and show how different programming paradigms can be uniformly represented and related within this framework via structure-preserving mappings.

Fields of Study & Subjects

Logic programming and type systems Model-Driven Software Engineering Techniques Formal Methods in Verification

Publication details

Journal / source
Journal of Applied Mathematics Statistics and Informatics
Publisher
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Volume
22
Issue
1
Pages
67–80
Publication date
1 May 2026
Language
EN