Abstract
Designers of network algorithms give elegant informal descriptions of the intuition behind their algorithms (see [GHS83, Hu83, MS79, Se82, Se83, ZS80]). Usually, these descriptions are structured as if tasks or subtasks are performed sequentially. From an operational point of view, however, they are performed concurrently. Here, we present a design principle that formally describes how to develop algorithms according to such sequentially phased explanations. The design principle is formulated using Manna and Pnueli's linear time temporal logic [MP83]. This principle, together with Chandy and Misra's technique [CM88] or Back and Sere's technique [BS89] for designing parallel algorithms, is applicable to large classes of algorithms, such as those for minimum-path, connectivity, network flow, and minimum-weight spanning trees. In particular, the distributed minimum-weight spanning tree algorithm of Gallager, Humblet, and Spira [GHS83] is structured according to our principle.
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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Stomp, F.A., de Roever, W.P. (1989). Designing distributed algorithms by means of formal sequentially phased reasoning. In: Bermond, JC., Raynal, M. (eds) Distributed Algorithms. WDAG 1989. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 392. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-51687-5_47
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-51687-5_47
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