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Actors as a coordinating model of computation (extended abstract)

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Book cover Perspectives of System Informatics (PSI 1996)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1181))

Abstract

This paper relates two prominent models of concurrent computation, namely Actors and π-Calculus. We build on a tangible thesis that proclaims — Actors enact the role of a coordinating model of computation. We enrich the Actor model by defining mechanisms for achieving higher levels of abstraction. This helps in reasoning with collections of Actors termed Actor Troupes. We identify a notion of observation equivalence between Actor Troupes; and provide a firm semantic foundation for the enriched Actor model, in terms of the π-calculus — which has emerged as the canonical process calculus for the semantic analysis of object-based concurrent systems. Further, we show that the algebraic notion of weak reduction equivalence in π-calculus, corresponds precisely to observation equivalence of the corresponding Actor Troupes.

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Dines Bjørner Manfred Broy Igor V. Pottosin

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Raja, N., Shyamasundar, R.K. (1996). Actors as a coordinating model of computation (extended abstract). In: Bjørner, D., Broy, M., Pottosin, I.V. (eds) Perspectives of System Informatics. PSI 1996. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1181. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-62064-8_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-62064-8_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-62064-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-49637-3

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