Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!ukc!edcastle!lfcs!db
From: db@lfcs.ed.ac.uk (Dave Berry)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc
Subject: Re: CCS
Message-ID: <1439@castle.ed.ac.uk>
Date: 18 Dec 89 13:36:38 GMT
References: <74850@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <1989Dec11.140635.8461@cs.eur.nl> <6229@nigel.udel.EDU> <669@cluster.cs.su.oz>
Reply-To: db@lfcs.ed.ac.uk (Dave Berry)
Organization: Laboratory for the Foundations of Computer Science, Edinburgh U
Lines: 49

In article <669@cluster.cs.su.oz> johnz@cluster.cs.su.oz (John Zic) writes:
>LOTOS is based on Robin Milner's CCS with the addition of
>abstract data types (provided by ACT-ONE).  Here's the reference:

A better reference is:

Robin Milner, "Communication and Concurrency", Prentice-Hall, 1989.
ISBN 0-13-114984-9
     0-13-115007-3 Pbk.

>I regard LOTOS as a specification technique, rather than an
>implementation language -- although there may be some implementation
>of LOTOS around.  Warning -- religious belief follows -- stick to
>Occam; it is a nice implementation of the CSP algebra with which one
>can reason about safety etc of a specification in the CSP
>traces/failures/divergences model.

Would you like to start a thread comparing CCS/Lotos and CSP/Occam ?
What little I've seen of the theory of CSP seems strongly influenced by CCS,
& I'd like to know more about the differences, and also about experience
of actually using either model.

We distribute an implementation of CCS for the costs of distribution.
Mail paul@lfcs.ed.ac.uk if you would like a copy.  I think it's only
available for Vaxen and Sun 3s.


If anyone is interested in Milner's more recent work on this subject,
you may be interested in the following tech. reports (I think they're
free).  Mail Dorothy McKie (dam@lfcs.ed.ac.uk) for copies.


Robin Milner, Joachim Parrow & David Walker, "A Calculus of Mobile
Processes, Part 1", ECS-LFCS-89-85, June 1989.

Robin Milner, Joachim Parrow & David Walker, "A Calculus of Mobile
Processes, Part 2", ECS-LFCS-89-85, June 1989.

These describe a CCS-like calculus in which channels can be passed
from one process to another.  Part 1 is a generqal description,
part 2 includes all the proofs and heavy stuff.

I hope this isn't too much like advertising.  We're not making money
from this stuff.

Dave Berry, Laboratory for Foundations      db%lfcs.ed.ac.uk@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
    of Computer Science, Edinburgh Uni.	    <Atlantic Ocean>!mcvax!ukc!lfcs!db

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