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Operational and algebraic semantics for facile: A symmetric integration of concurrent and functional programming

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Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP 1990)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 443))

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Abstract

We study the semantic foundations of a class of languages that combine the typed λ-calculus with process constructs for synchronised communication over typed channels. Examples include PFL, Amber, PML and Facile, a language under development at Stony Brook that supports a symmetric integration of functional and concurrent programming. Expressions in Facile are very general and may dynamically create processes and cause communication.

The main result is an extensional notion of program behaviour which we characterise using operational techniques. A new concept of abstraction in observation is introduced: a system is observed through a set of channels called a window. The concept of window is used to generalise bisimulation to indexed families of relations, thus supporting reasoning about higher-order processes whose interface may expand dynamically during execution. A definition of process and expression equivalence is introduced which takes into account both observable behaviour and resulting value. We close with a discussion on compositional reasoning using this notion of window-parametrised equivalence.

This work has been partially supported by NSF CCR-8704309 and NSF CCR-8706973

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Author notes

  1. Alessandro Giacalone

    Present address: ECRC, Arabellastrasse 17, D-8000, Munich 81, F.R.G.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, The State University of New York at Stony Brook, 11794-4400, Stony Brook, New York

    Sanjiva Prasad, Alessandro Giacalone & Prateek Mishra

Authors
  1. Sanjiva Prasad
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  2. Alessandro Giacalone
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  3. Prateek Mishra
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alessandro Giacalone .

Editor information

Michael S. Paterson

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Prasad, S., Giacalone, A., Mishra, P. (1990). Operational and algebraic semantics for facile: A symmetric integration of concurrent and functional programming. In: Paterson, M.S. (eds) Automata, Languages and Programming. ICALP 1990. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 443. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0032073

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0032073

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-52826-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-47159-2

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