Interpretive language implementation from a layered operational model

Describes a technique for the automatic generation of an interpretive implementation for a programming language from a layered operational semantic description of the language. Layers in the semantic model represent levels of abstraction which correspond to the needs of various classes of user of the semantic description (programmers, language designers, and so on). The layers are built one on top of the other, with the innermost layer of the model being based on the algebraic specification of abstract data types. Different kinds of user can thus use the same language definition, examining it to differing levels of detail. The complete layered programming language definition can be submitted to a system which automatically generates an interpretive implementation of the language. The implementation is then consistent with the description of the language being used by each kind of user. In particular, this technique presents many advantages for language designers, since aspects of the language description within any of the layers may be altered and a new experimental implementation obtained