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Summary: What are the fundamental structures of concurrency?
We still don't know!
Samson Abramsky
Oxford University Computing Laboratory
June 7, 2005
Abstract
I propound a few heresies, and indulge in some dubious speculations.
1 Process Calculi as Generic Theories
What counts as a successful theory in Computer Science? Consider obvious exemplars such
as
· Process Calculi
· Type Systems
· Model-checking
It is not the case that there is a single agreed model, notation, formalism, tool or language in
any of the above areas. In fact there are a profusion of all of these, although some have been
particularly influential. (Insert your favourite examples here ...)
The `Next 700 ···' syndrome Is this profusion a `scandal' of our subject? I used to think
so -- and I wasn't alone (e.g. Robin Milner's quest to find the `-calculus of concurrency').
Now I am not so sure.
It's the Paradigms! The paradigms and tool-kits, both technical and conceptual, provided
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