Non-commutative propositional logic with short-circuit evaluation

Open Access
Authors
Publication date 2021
Journal Journal of Applied Non-Classical Logics
Volume | Issue number 31 | 3-4
Pages (from-to) 234-278
Organisations
  • Faculty of Science (FNWI) - Informatics Institute (IVI)
Abstract

Short-circuit evaluation denotes the semantics of propositional connectives in which the second argument is evaluated only if the first is insufficient to determine the value of the expression. Compound statements are evaluated from left to right. Short-circuit evaluation is widely used in programming, with negation and sequential conjunction and disjunction as primitives. We study the question of which laws axiomatise short-circuit evaluation. In MSCL (memorising short-circuit logic), atoms (propositional variables) evaluate to true or false, and in the evaluation of a compound statement, the first evaluation result of each atom is memorised. Hence, MSCL is 'Non-commutative propositional logic with short-circuit evaluation' and atomic evaluations cannot cause a side effect. Next, we consider the case that atoms can also evaluate to the truth value 'undefined'. For two- and three-valued MSCL, we present evaluation trees as an intuitive semantics and provide complete independent equational axiomatisations.

Document type Article
Language English
Related publication Non-commutative propositional logic with short-circuited biconditional and NAND Propositional logic with short-circuit evaluation: a non-commutative and a commutative variant
Published at https://doi.org/10.1080/11663081.2021.2010954
Other links https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85121748423
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11663081.2021 (Final published version)
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