A type-theoretic approach to deadlock-freedom of asynchronous systems

Abramsky, S., Gay, S. and Nagarajan, R. (1997) A type-theoretic approach to deadlock-freedom of asynchronous systems. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 1281, p. 295. (doi: 10.1007/BFb0014557)

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Publisher's URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BFb0014557

Abstract

We present a type-based technique for the verification of deadlock-freedom in asynchronous concurrent systems. Our general approach is to start with a simple interaction category, in which objects are types containing safety specifications and morphisms are processes. We then use a specification structure to add information to the types so that they specify stronger properties. In this paper the starting point is the category ASP<i>roc</i> and the extra type information concerns deadlock-freedom. In the resulting category ASP<i>r</i>OC D , combining well-typed processes preserves deadlock-freedom. It is also possible to accommodate non-compositional methods within the same framework. The systems we consider are asynchronous, hence issues of divergence become significant; our approach incorporates an elegant treatment of both divergence and successful termination. As an example, we use our methods to verify the deadlock-freedom of an implementation of the alternating-bit protocol.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Gay, Professor Simon
Authors: Abramsky, S., Gay, S., and Nagarajan, R.
Subjects:Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA75 Electronic computers. Computer science
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
Journal Name:Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Publisher:Springer
ISSN:0302-9743
ISSN (Online):1611-3349

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