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An exercise in formalizing the description of a concurrent system
Author(s) -
Bustard D. W.,
Norris M. T.,
Orr R. A.,
Winstanley A. C.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
software: practice and experience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1097-024X
pISSN - 0038-0644
DOI - 10.1002/spe.4380221204
Subject(s) - computer science , programming language , presentation (obstetrics) , process (computing) , process calculus , component (thermodynamics) , formal description , software engineering , medicine , physics , radiology , thermodynamics
LOTOS is one of the most recent formal description languages to appear and one of very few with a standard definition. It has both a process algebra and an abstract data‐type component, and these facilities are used in combination to describe the behaviour of concurrent systems. The purpose of this paper is to examine, in a tutorial style, what is involved in constructing and taking benefit from such descriptions. The presentation is illustrated through the development of two formal descriptions for the children's game of pass‐the‐parcel. These descriptions and a concise summary of the main features of LOTOS are given as appendices. Many of the points made in the paper apply equally well to other process‐oriented languages such as CCS and CSP.