Open AccessModels for Concurrency
Author(s) -
Glynn Winskel,
Mogens Nielsen
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
brics report series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1601-5355
pISSN - 0909-0878
DOI - 10.7146/brics.v1i12.21658
Subject(s) - concurrency , computer science , composability , adjunction , interleaving , petri net , asynchronous communication , theoretical computer science , context (archaeology) , category theory , programming language , range (aeronautics) , transition system , independence (probability theory) , mathematics , computer network , paleontology , materials science , pure mathematics , composite material , biology , operating system , statistics
This report surveys a range of models for parallel computation to include interleaving models like transition systems, synchronisation trees and languages (often called Hoare traces in this context), and models like Petri nets, asynchronous transition systems, event structures, pomsets and Mazurkiewicz traces where concurrency is represented more explicitly by a form of causal independence. The presentation is unified by casting the models in a category-theoretic framework. One aim is to use category theory to provide abstract characterisations of constructions like parallel composition valid throughout a range of different models and to provide formal means for translating between different models. A knowledge of basic category theory is assumed, up to an acquaintance with the notion of adjunction.