Communicating and Mobile Systems
The Pi Calculus

First account of new theory of communication in computing which describes networks, as well as parts of computer systems.

Robin Milner (Author)

9780521658690, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 20 May 1999

174 pages, 58 b/w illus. 230 exercises
22.7 x 15.3 x 1.3 cm, 0.24 kg

'… may well become the standard work on the ?-calculus.' Martin Hoffman, Zentralblatt MATH

The pi-calculus differs from other models of communicating behaviour mainly in its treatment of mobility. The movement of a piece of data inside a computer program is treated exactly the same as the transfer of a message - or indeed an entire computer program - across the internet. One can also describe networks which reconfigure themselves. The calculus is very simple but powerful; its most prominent ingredient is the notion of a name. Its theory has two important ingredients: the concept of behavioural (or observational) equivalence, and the use of a new theory of types to classify patterns of interactive behaviour. The internet, and its communication protocols, fall within the scope of the theory just as much as computer programs, data structures, algorithms and programming languages. This book is the first textbook on the subject; it has been long-awaited by professionals and will be welcomed by them, and their students.

Glossary
Part I. Communicating Systems: 1. Introduction
2. Behaviour of automata
3. Sequential processes and bisimulation
4. Concurrent processes and reaction
5. Transitions and strong equivalence
6. Observation equivalence: theory
7. Observation equivalence: examples
Part II. The ?-Calculus: 8. What is mobility? 9. The ?-calculus and reaction
10. Applications of the ?-calculus
11. Sorts, objects and functions
12. Commitments and strong bisimulation
13. Observation equivalence and examples
14. Discussion and related work
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Computer networking & communications [UT]