New challenges in programming language semantics

The purpose of the workshop New challenges in programming language semantics is for programming language researchers to share their vision for the future of the subject. In particular, we would like to discuss challenges posed by several recent developments in programming languages, which have become topical due to applications in such diverse areas as web development, systems programming, data science, and artificial intelligence. The workshop does not aim at arriving at a systematic and comprehensive account of the expanding body of knowledge on models of programming languages but rather at identifying common themes and potential cross-pollination of semantic approaches. To this end,  the workshop focus on the following four specific areas:

• Dynamic languages
• Systems programming
• Probabilistic programming
• Differentiable programming

Each of these areas has been researched largely separately in the last few years. The findings have been communicated primarily through specialist workshops, which resulted in the emergence of rather disjointed communities. Our proposal aims to fill the gap and to facilitate communication between the four strands as well as the wider semantics community.