Encapsulation and Dynamic Modularity in the Pi-Calculus

TL;DR

This paper introduces a process calculus with high-level constructs for component-oriented programming, focusing on dynamic reconfiguration, updates, and code migration in distributed systems, along with a low-level implementation framework.

Contribution

It extends the higher-order pi-calculus to model dynamic component behaviors and provides a low-level calculus for distributed implementation.

Findings

Defined a high-level process calculus for component programming

Developed a low-level calculus for distributed implementation

Discussed future research directions in component-based systems

Abstract

We describe a process calculus featuring high level constructs for component-oriented programming in a distributed setting. We propose an extension of the higher-order pi-calculus intended to capture several important mechanisms related to component-based programming, such as dynamic update, reconfiguration and code migration. In this paper, we are primarily concerned with the possibility to build a distributed implementation of our calculus. Accordingly, we define a low-level calculus, that describes how the high-level constructs are implemented, as well as details of the data structures manipulated at runtime. We also discuss current and future directions of research in relation to our analysis of component-based programming.