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Visualisation for Stochastic Process Algebras: The Graphic Truth

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Computer Performance Engineering (EPEW 2011)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 6977))

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Abstract

There have historically been two approaches to performance modelling. On the one hand, textual language-based formalisms such as stochastic process algebras allow compositional modelling that is portable and easy to manage. In contrast, graphical formalisms such as stochastic Petri nets and stochastic activity networks provide an automaton-based view of the model, which may be easier to visualise, at the expense of portability. In this paper, we argue that we can achieve the benefits of both approaches by generating a graphical view of a stochastic process algebra model, which is synchronised with the textual representation, giving the user has two ways in which they can interact with the model.

We present a tool, as part of the PEPA Eclipse Plug-in, that allows the components of models in the Performance Evaluation Process Algebra (PEPA) to be visualised in a graphical way. This also provides a natural interface for labelling states in the model, which integrates with our interface for specifying and model checking properties in the Continuous Stochastic Logic (CSL). We describe recent improvements to the tool in terms of usability and exploiting the visualisation framework, and discuss some of the general features of the implementation that could be used by other tools. We illustrate the tool using an example based on a model of a financial web-service application.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics and Mathematical Modelling, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet, Lyngby, Denmark

    Michael J. A. Smith

  2. Laboratory for Foundations of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

    Stephen Gilmore

Authors
  1. Michael J. A. Smith
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  2. Stephen Gilmore
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Nigel Thomas

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Smith, M.J.A., Gilmore, S. (2011). Visualisation for Stochastic Process Algebras: The Graphic Truth. In: Thomas, N. (eds) Computer Performance Engineering. EPEW 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6977. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24749-1_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-24749-1_23

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-24748-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-24749-1

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