Instruction Sequences with Dynamically Instantiated Instructions

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Bergstra, Jan A. | Middelburg, Cornelis A.

Affiliations: Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam Science Park 107, 1098 XG Amsterdam, the Netherlands. E-mail: {J.A.Bergstra,C.A.Middelburg}@uva.nl

Abstract: We study sequential programs that are instruction sequences with dynamically instantiated instructions. We define the meaning of such programs in two different ways. In either case, we give a translation by which each program with dynamically instantiated instructions is turned into a program without them that exhibits on execution the same behaviour by interaction with some service. The complexity of the translations differ considerably, whereas the services concerned are equally simple. However, the service concerned in the case of the simpler translation is far more powerful than the service concerned in the other case.

Keywords: instruction sequence, dynamically instantiated instruction, projection semantics, program algebra, thread algebra, action transforming use mechanism

DOI: 10.3233/FI-2009-165

Journal: Fundamenta Informaticae, vol. 96, no. 1-2, pp. 27-48, 2009