Peter Mosses
Professor Emeritus (Computer Science, Swansea University)
Visitor (Programming Languages Group, TU Delft)
Career overview
Education and Affiliations #
I studied maths and computer science at Oxford, and completed my doctorate in 1975. After a postdoc at Oxford, I moved to Denmark, to a lectureship at Aarhus. I moved back to the UK in 2005, to a chair at Swansea. I retired and became emeritus in 2016, then moved to The Netherlands, where I am currently visiting TU Delft.
Semantics #
My research in semantics of programming languages stretches back to Christopher Strachey’s Programming Research Group at Oxford University in the early 1970s. During my graduate studies under Strachey’s supervision, I contributed to the development of denotational semantics, and implemented SIS, a system for generating programming language interpreters from denotational semantics.
Modularity #
The main focus of my research since the 1980s has been on pragmatic aspects of semantic specifications – especially modularity. This led to the development of action semantics, MSOS (a modular variant of structural operational semantics) and CBS (component-based semantics). I was a principal investigator in the EPSRC-funded PLanCompS project (Programming Language Components and Specifications), which developed CBS.
Algebraic specification #
In the 1980s and 1990s, I also participated in research on algebraic specification of data types and software. I was the initial coordinator of CoFI, the Common Framework Initiative, which designed the algebraic specification language CASL; and I was a chair of IFIP Working Group 1.3 (on Foundations of System Specification).