db_connect: Could not connect to paper db at "wotug@dragon.kent.ac.uk"<br>
db_connect: Could not connect to paper db at "wotug@dragon.kent.ac.uk"<br>
@InProceedings{BurginSmith07,
  title =        "{A}lgebras of {A}ctions in {C}oncurrent {P}rocesses",
db_connect: Could not connect to paper db at "wotug@dragon.kent.ac.uk"<br>
  author=        "Burgin,  Mark and Smith,  Marc L.",
db_connect: Could not connect to paper db at "wotug@dragon.kent.ac.uk"<br>
  editor=        "McEwan,  Alistair A. and Schneider,  Steve and Ifill,  Wilson and Welch, Peter H.",
db_connect: Could not connect to paper db at "wotug@dragon.kent.ac.uk"<br>
  pages =        "505--506",
  booktitle=     "{C}ommunicating {P}rocess {A}rchitectures 2007",
  isbn=          "978-1-58603-767-3",
  year=          "2007",
  month=         "jul",
  abstract=      "We introduce a high-level metamodel, EAP
     (event-action-process), for
reasoning about concurrent
     processes. EAP shares with CSP notions of observable
events
     and processes, but as its name suggests, EAP is also
     concerned with actions.
Actions represent an intermediate
     level of event composition that provide the basis
for a
     hierarchical structure that builds up from individual,
     observable events, to
processes that may themselves be
     units of composition. EAP\&amp;\#8217;s
     composition
hierarchy corresponds to the reality that
     intermediate units of composition exist, and
that these
     intermediate units don\&amp;\#8217;t always fall neatly
     within process boundaries.
One prominent example of an
     intermediate unit of composition, or action, is
threads.
     Threads of execution are capable of crossing process
     boundaries, and one
popular programming paradigm,
     object-oriented programming, encourages this
approach to
     concurrent program design. While we may advocate for
     more
disciplined, process-oriented design, the demand for
     better models for reasoning
about threads remains.
On a
     more theoretical level, traces of a computation are also
     actions. Traces are
event structures, composed by the CSP
     observer, according to a set of rules for
recording the
     history of a computation. In one of the author\&amp;\#8217;s
     model for viewcentric
reasoning (VCR), the CSP observer is
     permitted to record simultaneous
events without
     interleaving; and in previous joint work by the authors, the
     extended
VCR (EVCR) model permits the CSP observer to
     record events with duration, so
that events may overlap
     entirely, partially, or not at all. Sequential composition
     may
be viewed as a special case of parallel
     composition\&amp;\#8212;one of many forms of
composition we
     wish to be better able to reason about.
Since such diverse
     types of composition exist, at the event, action, and
     process
levels; and because such problematic actions as
     threads exist in real systems, we
must find more
     appropriate models to reason about such systems. To this
     end, we
are developing algebras at different levels of
     compositionality to address these goals.
In particular, we
     are interested in a corresponding hierarchy of algebras, at
     the event,
action, and process levels.
The present focus
     of our efforts is at the action level, since these are the
     least
well understood. This talk presents fundamental
     notions of actions and examples of
actions in the context
     of real systems. A diversity of possible compositions at
     the
action level will be revealed and discussed, as well as
     our progress on the action
algebra itself."
}