Behavior of processes
• A process passes through states during an
CIT 6255
Advanced Internet Computing
Lecture 2: Concurrency Theory
Summer – 2012 | Hasan Mahmud | hasan@iut-dhaka.edu
Behavior of processes: transitions
• Labeled transition system describing the
behavior of CM | M
CIT 6241 | Advanced Internet Computing
execution
• Processes change their state by performing
actions
– Example: mathematician
• No difference between processes and states:
– By performing an action, a process evolves to another
process, describing what remains to be executed of
the original one
• Processes evolve by performing transitions
– Example!
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From automata to CCS
• Given an automata,
– remove final (we are not primarily interested in
termination) state,
– remove initial states (assimilate processes with
states, hence any state is ”initial” relative to the
process).
• Such an automaton deprived from initial and
final states is called a labeled transition system
or LTS for short.
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 Operational Semantics of CCS Labeled Transition System (LTS)
• Operational semantics of CCS helps in formalizing the • A labeled transition system (LTS) is a triple
execution of a CCS process

– Proc is a set of processes (the states),

Syntax Semantics – Act is a set of actions (the labels), and
– for every is a binary relation
(process term + equations) (Labeled transition systems) on processes called the transition relation
• We use the infix notation α
α
P
→ P ′ instead of
(P, P′) ∈ 
→
– It is customary to distinguish the initial process (the start
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state) CIT 6241 | Advanced Internet Computing 6

Labeled Transition System (LTS) Informal Translation: from syntax to semantics of CCS

• Conceptually it is often beneficial to think of a (finite) LTS as

something that can be drawn as a directed (process) graph
– Processes are the nodes
– Transitions are the edges

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 Informal Translation Process Interaction
• Parallel composition: α.P | β.Q • Concurrent processes, i.e. P and Q in P |Q, may interact
where their interfaces are compatible
– Combines sequential composition and choice to
• A synchronizing interaction between two processes (sub-
obtain interleaving systems), P and Q, is an activity that is internal to P |Q
P | β.Q • Parallel composition: α.P | β.Q
α β – Allows interaction if β = ᾱ
P | ā.Q
behavior: α.P | β.Q P|Q a ā
β α τ
behavior: a.P | ā.Q P|Q
α.P | Q
ā α
a.P | Q
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Structural Operational Semantics for CCS SOS rules for CCS

• Small-step operational semantics where the behavior of a
system is inferred using syntax driven rules
• Given a collection of CCS defining equations, we define the
following LTS

– Proc is the set of all CCS process expressions

– Act is the set of all CCS actions including τ
– the transition relation is given by SOS rules of the form:

premises
RULE conditions
conclusion
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