Semantics study and reality of computing

This short essay discusses relationship between the study of semantics and the reality of computing — how the former is reflected in the latter and vice versa. It was prompted by the panel discussion on research funding for theoretical computer science held on the occasion of ICALP’97, Bologna, which addressed the current critical status of the funding in the field. As such, the author’s wish in writing this essay was to present pertinent arguments for the relevance of the study of semantics to the understanding and control of the real computational phenomena. Due to the permitted length, the full details of constituting arguments or of historical discussions cannot be given (in particular, the references are minimal). However hopefully the basic views of the author on the subject would be conveyed by the following lines. The essay starts from a very brief summary of basic themes of the semantics study and discuss how the study of type disciplines yield powerful tools for the analysis of complex language constructs with a semantic basis. We then turn to the theories of concurrent processes and discuss their significance in computing practice. Finally we conclude with some prospect for future.

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