programming language semantics
the field concerned with the rigorous mathematical study of the meaning of programming languages
axiomatic 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
operational semantics
category of formal programming language semantics
denotational semantics
approach of formalizing the meanings of programming languages by constructing mathematical objects (called denotations) that describe the meanings of expressions from the languages