Saarland University
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Theory of Communicating Systems

Seminar, 7/8/9 Credit Points

Summer term 2007

Prof. Gert Smolka, Dr. Jan Schwinghammer, Mark Kaminski
Programming Systems Lab, Department of Computer Science, Saarland University

Traditionally, computation is viewed as a transformational process that computes output data from input data. In the past decades this view has been complemented by the similarly fundamental role that communication and interaction play in computing: concurrently running programs, perhaps distributed on many computers across a network, are often most naturally described and reasoned about in terms of their communication behaviour. Even for sequential programs, complex behaviour may be understood in terms of interactive "experiments".

In this seminar we will see how the essence of communicating processes is idealized in a small formal system, the pi-calculus. We will learn how a very basic notion of communication can be used to model examples from various application domains as communicating systems, including mobile phone protocols, finite state machines, and programming languages. We will develop the theory of the pi-calculus, in particular proof techniques for behavioural equivalences, and use this to reason about communicating systems.

The seminar will be based on the book Communicating and Mobile Systems: the Pi-Calculus by Robin Milner. We will also read some original research articles about more advanced aspects of the pi-calculus and related calculi.

Organization

The seminar will be split into two parts:

• a reading group where we will read about and discuss the basics of pi calculus, to be held on four occasions during term time; and
• a series of talks on chapters of the book and original research papers, to be held after the term (Thursday, September 27, and Friday, September 28). Here is the programme.

Requirements

Assessment and work load

To obtain the credit points assigned to this course, you have to

• be present (and prepared) in the reading group and at all talks,
• actively participate in discussions,
• present a talk (20 minutes, plus discussion), and
• write a report (10–15 pages, electronically submitted as pdf by Thursday, October 4).

Expect to work one full day per week for this seminar.

Registration

The initial meeting took place on Monday, 23.04.2007, and registration for the seminar is now closed. Guests are always welcome during the reading group and talks; simply send an email.