Peter Mosses
Encyclopedia
Peter D. Mosses is a British
computer scientist.
Peter Mosses studied mathematics
as an undergraduate at Trinity College
, Oxford, and went on to undertake a DPhil supervised by Christopher Strachey
in the Programming Research Group
while at Wolfson College, Oxford
in the early 1970s. He was the last student to submit his thesis under Strachey before the latter's untimely death.
Mosses has spent most of his career at BRICS in Denmark
. He returned to a chair at Swansea University
, Wales
. His main contribution has been in the area of formal program semantics. In particular, with David Watt he developed action semantics
, a combination of denotational
, operational
and algebraic semantics
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
computer scientist.
Peter Mosses studied mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
as an undergraduate at Trinity College
Trinity College, Oxford
The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope , or Trinity College for short, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It stands on Broad Street, next door to Balliol College and Blackwells bookshop,...
, Oxford, and went on to undertake a DPhil supervised by Christopher Strachey
Christopher Strachey
Christopher Strachey was a British computer scientist. He was one of the founders of denotational semantics, and a pioneer in programming language design...
in the Programming Research Group
Programming Research Group
The Programming Research Group is part of the Oxford University Computing Laboratory . It was founded by Christopher Strachey in 1965 and after his death, C.A.R. Hoare, FRS took over the leadership in 1977...
while at Wolfson College, Oxford
Wolfson College, Oxford
Wolfson College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with over sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research and junior research fellows. It caters to a wide range of...
in the early 1970s. He was the last student to submit his thesis under Strachey before the latter's untimely death.
Mosses has spent most of his career at BRICS in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. He returned to a chair at Swansea University
Swansea University
Swansea University is a university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. Swansea University was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it changed its name to the University of Wales Swansea following structural changes...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. His main contribution has been in the area of formal program semantics. In particular, with David Watt he developed action semantics
Action semantics
Action semantics is a framework for the formal specification of semantics of programming languages invented by David Watt and Peter D. Mosses. It is a mixture of denotational, operational and algebraic semantics....
, a combination of denotational
Denotational semantics
In computer science, denotational semantics is an approach to formalizing the meanings of programming languages by constructing mathematical objects which describe the meanings of expressions from the languages...
, operational
Operational semantics
In computer science, operational semantics is a way to give meaning to computer programs in a mathematically rigorous way. Operational semantics are classified into two categories: structural operational semantics formally describe how the individual steps of a computation take place in a...
and algebraic semantics
Algebraic semantics
An programming language theory, the algebraic semantics of a programming language is a form of axiomatic semantics based on algebraic laws for describing and reasoning about program semantics in a formal manner....
.