Semantics of Communicating Parallel Processes.

Abstract

The theme of this report is that an understanding of the ordering constraints that are introduced among events of parallel processes is essential to the understanding of synchronization and that therefore any language for specifying synchronization of parallel processes should be based on a theory of such orderings. While it is possible to write specifications for systems of communicating parallel processes by reference to the time ordering of some global clock external to the system, such specifications cannot be as useful as one which are in terms of orderings derivable within the system. Specifications should place constraints on intended behavior of the computer system itself rather than on the possible observations of the system's behaviors from some global viewpoint which may in fact be totally unrealizable. The dissertation is a development of a specification language. It is based on a model of computation in which an individual process is represented by a totally ordered set of events.

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1975
Accession Number
ADA016302

Entities

People

  • Irene Greif

Organizations

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Computations
  • Computers
  • Language
  • Linguistics
  • Observation
  • Semantics
  • Specifications
  • Theses
  • Words (Language)

Readers

  • Computational Linguistics
  • Parallel and Distributed Computing.
  • Theoretical Analysis.