Abstract
Process algebras are formal systems aimed at the abstract description of computing devices organized as collections of components which can operate in parallel and cooperate by communicating values among them. In classical process algebras, communication is by rendez-vous, where symmetric proposals made by two processes meet synchronously: a local variable proposed by a receiving process is bound to a value proposed by a sending process. In this paper, this binary rendez-vous with only one variable on one side and one value on the other side is viewed as a mere special case of a more general situation for communication by synchronous rendez-vous. An arbitrary number of processes may offer terms to each others: if these terms have common instances, communication can indeed take place, and amounts to applying the unifying substitutions to the processes involved. The syntax and operational semantics of process algebras with this general view of communication are formally defined. The operational semantics show how this generalization leads to a clean formalization of the notion of global variables in process algebras. Applications are presented, which show that these algebras implement an original computing paradigm, where computation is achieved solely by means of communication.
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
J.A. Bergstra and J.W. Klop. Algebra of Communicating Processes. In J.W. De Bakker et al., editors, Proc. CWI Symp. Math. and Comp. Sci., North Holland.
G. Boudol. Notes on Algebraic Calculi of Processes. In K. Apt, editor, Logics and Models of Concurrent Systems, NATO ASI Series f13.
E. Brinksma. Information Processing Systems — Open Systems Interconnection — LOTOS — A Formal Description Technique Based upon the Temporal Ordering of Observational Behavior. Draft International Standard ISO 8807.
N. Dershowitz, Termination of Rewriting. Journal of Symbolic Computation, 3 (1).
J.V. Guttag and J.J. Horning. The Algebraic Specification of Abstract Data Types. Acta Informatica, 10.
Z. Habbas. Une Algèbre de Processus pour un Calcul Basé sur la Déduction. PhD Thesis, Grenoble University.
C.A.R. Hoare. Communicating Sequential Processes. Communications of the ACM, 21 (8).
C.A.R. Hoare. Communicating Sequential Processes. Prentice Hall, International Series in Computer Science.
G. Huet and J.M. Hullot. Proofs by Induction in Equational Theories with Constructors. Journal of Computer and System Sciences, 25 (2).
G. Huet and D. Oppen. Equations and Rewrite Rules: a Survey. In R. Book, editor, Formal Language Theory: Perspectives and Open Problems, Academic Press.
J.W. Lloyd. Foundations of Logic Programming. Springer-Verlag.
D. May. OCCAM. SIGPLAN Notices, 13 (4).
R. Milner. A Calculus of Communicating Systems. LNCS 92, Springer-Verlag.
R. Milner. Calculi for Synchrony and Asynchrony. Theoretical Computer Science, 25.
R. Milner. Communication and Concurrency. Prentice Hall, International Series in Computer Science.
M.J. O'Donnel. Equational Logic as a Programming Language. MIT Press.
U. Pletat. Algebraic Specification of Abstract Data Types and CCS: an Operational Junction. In. Proc. Sixth IFIP Workshop on Protocol Specification, Testing and Verification.
G.D. Plotkin. A Structural Approach to Operational Semantics. Aarhus University, Dept. of Computer Science, Research Report No. DAIMI-FN-19.
Ph. Schnoebelen and Ph. Jorrand. Principles of FP2. Term Algebras for Specification of Parallel Machines. In J.W. de Bakker, editor, Languages for Parallel Architectures: Design, Semantics, Implementation Models, Wiley.
S.R. Thatte. On the Correspondence between two Classes of Reduction Systems. Information Processing Letters, 20.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Jorrand, P. (1993). Communication as unification in process algebras: Operational semantics. In: Bjørner, D., Broy, M., Pottosin, I.V. (eds) Formal Methods in Programming and Their Applications. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 735. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0039709
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0039709
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-57316-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48056-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive