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Pi-Calculus

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Parallel Computing

Synonyms

Calculus of mobile processes

Definition

The π-calculus is a process calculus that models mobile systems, i.e., systems with a dynamically changing communication topology. It refines the constructs of the calculus of communicating systems (CCS) by allowing the exchange of communication links. Ideas from the λ-calculus have also been influential.

Discussion

Introduction

A widely recognized practice for understanding programming languages, be they sequential or concurrent, is to distill small “core languages,” or “calculi,” that embody the essential ingredients of the languages. This is useful to develop the theory of the programming language (e.g., techniques for static analysis, behavioral specification, and verification), to study implementations, to devise new or better programming language constructs.

A well-known calculus in the realm of sequential languages is the λ-calculus. Invented by Church in the 1930s, it is a pure calculus of functions. Everything in the λ-calculus...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Informazione, Universita’ di Bologna, 7, Mura Anteo Zamboni, 40126, Bologna, Italy

    Davide Sangiorgi & Davide Sangiorgi (Professor)

Authors
  1. Davide Sangiorgi
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  2. Davide Sangiorgi
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    David Padua

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Sangiorgi, D., Sangiorgi, D. (2011). Pi-Calculus. In: Padua, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Parallel Computing. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09766-4_202

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