Programming language semantics

the field concerned with the rigorous mathematical study of the meaning of programming languages

object-oriented programming principle stating that, in a computer program, if S is a subtype of T, then objects of type T may be replaced with objects of type S without altering any of the desirable properties of the program (correctness, etc.)

approach of formalizing the meanings of programming languages by constructing mathematical objects (called denotations) that describe the meanings of expressions from the languages

category of formal programming language semantics

approach based on mathematical logic for proving the correctness of computer programs; closely related to Hoare logic; define the meaning of a command in a program by describing its effect on assertions about the program state