Partially interpreted schemas for CSP programming (Q1095639)

Partially interpreted program schemas are suggested as a tool for formally specifying and defining the range of applicability of patterns of communication. The body of a schema syntactically resembles a program, but contains free variables which represent uninterpreted program sections, domains, functions, or other aspects of the program. The specification of the schema includes both applicability requirements and result assertions, as well as specifications for the free variables. A schema may be instantiated to obtain a correct program for a problem statement by matching a problem's assumptions and requirements to a schema specification, and appropriately substituting entities from the problem statement for the free variables in both the specification and the body of the schema. Examples are given of the types of schemas and specifications needed for distributed computing, and of the potential variety of instantiations.