research-article

Causality interfaces for actor networks

Authors:

Edward A. LeeAuthors Info & Claims

ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems (TECS), Volume 7, Issue 3

Article No.: 29, Pages 1 - 35

https://doi.org/10.1145/1347375.1347382

Published: 08 May 2008 Publication History

Abstract

We consider concurrent models of computation where “actors” (components that are in charge of their own actions) communicate by exchanging messages. The interfaces of actors principally consist of “ports,” which mediate the exchange of messages. Actor-oriented architectures contrast with and complement object-oriented models by emphasizing the exchange of data between concurrent components rather than transformation of state. Examples of such models of computation include the classical actor model, synchronous languages, data-flow models, process networks, and discrete-event models. Many experimental and production languages used to design embedded systems are actor oriented and based on one of these models of computation. Many of these models of computation benefit considerably from having access to causality information about the components. This paper augments the interfaces of such components to include such causality information. It shows how this causality information can be algebraically composed so that compositions of components acquire causality interfaces that are inferred from their components and the interconnections. We illustrate the use of these causality interfaces to statically analyze timed models and synchronous language compositions for causality loops and data-flow models for deadlock. We also show that that causality analysis for each communication cycle can be performed independently and in parallel, and it is only necessary to analyze one port for each cycle. Finally, we give a conservative approximation technique for handling dynamically changing causality properties.

References

[1]

Abramsky, S., Gay, S. J., and Nagarajan, R. 1995. Interaction categories and the foundations of typed concurrent programming. In Deductive Program Design: Proceedings of the 1994 Marktoberdorf Summer School, M. Broy, Ed. NATO ASI Series F. Springer-Verlag, New York.

Digital Library

[2]

Agha, G. 1990. Concurrent object-oriented programming. Commun. ACM 33, 9, 125--140.

Digital Library

[3]

Alur, R. and Henzinger, T. A. 1999. Reactive modules. Formal Methods Syst. Design 15, 7--48.

Digital Library

[4]

Arbab, F. 2004. Reo: A channel-based coordination model for component composition. Math. Structures Comput. Sci. 14, 3, 329--366.

Digital Library

[5]

Arbab, F. 2005. Abstract behavior types: A foundation model for components and their composition. Sci. Comput. Programming 55, 3--52.

Digital Library

[6]

Armstrong, J. R. and Gray, F. G. 2000. VHDL Design Representation and Synthesis, 2nd ed. Prentice-Hall, Englewood, Cliffs, NJ.

Digital Library

[7]

Benveniste, A. and Berry, G. 1991. The synchronous approach to reactive and real-time systems. Proc. IEEE 79, 9, 1270--1282.

[8]

Benveniste, A. and Guernic, P. L. 1990. Hybrid dynamical systems theory and the signal language. IEEE Trans. Automatic Control 35, 5, 525--546.

[9]

Berry, G. 1996. The Constructive Semantics of Pure Esterel. Book Draft.

[10]

Berry, G. and Gonthier, G. 1992. The esterel synchronous programming language: Design, semantics, implementation. Sci. Comput. Programming 19, 2, 87--152.

Digital Library

[11]

Broy, M. and Stefanescu, G. 2001. The algebra of stream processing functions. Theoret. Comput. Sci. 258, 99--129.

Digital Library

[12]

Buck, J. T. 1993. Scheduling dynamic data-flow graphs with bounded memory using the token flow model. Ph.D. Thesis Technical Memorandum UCB/ERL 93/69, EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley.

Digital Library

[13]

Buck, J. T., Ha, S., Lee, E. A., and Messerschmitt, D. G. 1994. Ptolemy: A framework for simulating and prototyping heterogeneous systems. Intern. J. Comput. Simulation, 4, 155--182. (Special Issue on “Simulation Software Development”).

[14]

Cassandras, C. G. 1993. Discrete Event Systems, Modeling and Performance Analysis. Irwin.

[15]

Chakrabarti, A., de Alfaro, L., and Henzinger, T. A. 2003. Resource interfaces. In EMSOFT, R. Alur and I. Lee, Eds. Vol. LNCS 2855. Springer, New York, 117--133.

[16]

Davey, B. A. and Priestly, H. A. 1990. Introduction to Lattices and Order. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

[17]

de Alfaro, L. and Henzinger, T. A. 2001. Interface theories for component-based design. In Ist International Workshop on Embedded Software (EMSOFT). Vol. LNCS 2211. Springer-Verlag, New York, 148--165.

Digital Library

[18]

de Kock, E. A., Essink, G., Smits, W. J. M., van der Wolf, P., Brunel, J.-Y., Kruijtzer, W., Lieverse, P., and Vissers, K. A. 2000. YAPI: Application modeling for signal processing systems. In 37th Design Automation Conference (DAC'00). Los Angeles, CA. 402--405.

Digital Library

[19]

Dennis, J. B. 1974. First version data flow procedure language. Tech. Rept. MAC TM61, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science.

[20]

Edwards, S. A. and Lee, E. A. 2003. The semantics and execution of a synchronous block-diagram language. Sci. Comput. Programming 48, 1.

Digital Library

[21]

Eker, J. and Janneck, J. W. 2003. CAL language report: Specification of the CAL actor language. Tech. Rep. Technical Memorandum No. UCB/ERL M03/48 (Dec. 1) University of California, Berkeley, CA.

[22]

Eker, J., Janneck, J. W., Lee, E. A., Liu, J., Liu, X., Ludvig, J., Neuendorffer, S., Sachs, S., and Xiong, Y. 2003. Taming heterogeneity—the Ptolemy approach. Proc. IEEE 91, 1, 127--144.

[23]

Ferrante, J., Ottenstein, K. J., and Warren, J. D. 1987. The program dependence graph and its use in optimization. ACM Trans. Programming Languages Syst. 9, 3, 319--349.

Digital Library

[24]

Girault, A., Lee, B., and Lee, E. A. 1999. Hierarchical finite state machines with multiple concurrency models. IEEE Trans. Comput.-Aided Design Integr. Circ. Syst. 18, 6, 742--760.

Digital Library

[25]

Göessler, G. and Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, A. 2002. Compositional modeling in Metropolis. In 2nd International Workshop on Embedded Software (EMSOFT). Springer-Verlag, New York.

Digital Library

[26]

Göessler, G. and Sifakis, J. 2005. Composition for component-based modeling. Sci. Comput. Programming 55.

Digital Library

[27]

Halbwachs, N., Caspi, P., Raymond, P., and Pilaud, D. 1991. The synchronous data flow programming language LUSTRE. Proc. IEEE 79, 9, 1305--1319.

[28]

Hewitt, C. 1977. Viewing control structures as patterns of passing messages. j. Artif. Intell. 8, 3, 323--363.

Digital Library

[29]

Horwitz, S., Reps, T., and Binkley, D. 1988. Interprocedural slicing using dependence graphs. In ACM SIGPLAN '88 Conference on Programming Language Design and Implementation. Vol. SIGPLAN Notices 23(7). Atlanta, Georgia. 35--46.

Digital Library

[30]

Kahn, G. 1974. The semantics of a simple language for parallel programming. In Proceedings of the IFIP Congress 74. North-Holland, Amsterdam.

[31]

Kahn, G. and MacQueen, D. B. 1977. Coroutines and networks of parallel processes. In Information Processing, B. Gilchrist, Ed. North-Holland, Amsterdam.

[32]

Keutzer, K., Malik, S., Newton, A. R., Rabaey, J., and Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, A. 2000. System level design: Orthogonolization of concerns and platform-based design. IEEE Trans. Comput.-Aided Design Integr. Circuits Syst. 19, 12.

Digital Library

[33]

Lee, E. A. 1999. Modeling concurrent real-time processes using discrete events. Ann. Softw. Engin. 7, 25--45.

Digital Library

[34]

Lee, E. A. 2002. Embedded software. In Advances in Computers, M. Zelkowitz, Ed. Vol. 56. Academic Press, New York.

[35]

Lee, E. A. 2003. Model-driven development—from object-oriented design to actor-oriented design. In Workshop on Software Engineering for Embedded Systems: From Requirements to Implementation (a.k.a. The Monterey Workshop). Chicago.

[36]

Lee, E. A. and Messerschmitt, D. G. 1987. Synchronous data flow. Proc. IEEE 75, 9 (Sept.), 1235--1245.

[37]

Lee, E. A. and Neuendorffer, S. 2004. Classes and subclasses in actor-oriented design. In Conference on Formal Methods and Models for Codesign (MEMOCODE). San Diego, CA.

[38]

Lee, E. A. and Parks, T. M. 1995. data-flow process networks. Proc. IEEE 83, 5, 773--801.

[39]

Lee, E. A. and Sangiovanni-Vincentelli, A. 1998. A framework for comparing models of computation. IEEE Trans. CAD 17, 12.

Digital Library

[40]

Lee, E. A. and Xiong, Y. 2004. A behavioral type system and its application in Ptolemy II. Formal Asp. Comput. J. 16, 3, 210--237.

[41]

Lee, E. A. and Zheng, H. 2005. Operational semantics of hybrid systems. In Hybrid Systems: Computation and Control (HSCC), M. Morari and L. Thiele, Eds. Vol. LNCS 3414. Springer-Verlag, New York. 25--53.

Digital Library

[42]

Lee, E. A., Neuendorffer, S., and Wirthlin, M. J. 2003. Actor-oriented design of embedded hardware and software systems. J. Circuits, Syst. Comput. 12, 3, 231--260.

[43]

Lee, E. A., Zheng, H., and Zhou, Y. 2005. Causality interfaces and compositional causality analysis. In Foundations of Interface Technologies (FIT), Satellite to CONCUR. San Francisco, CA.

[44]

Liu, X. 2005. Semantic foundation of the tagged signal model. Ph.D. Thesis Technical Memorandum UCB/EECS-2005-31 (Dec.). EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley.

Digital Library

[45]

Liu, X. and Lee, E. A. 2006. CPO semantics of timed interactive actor networks. Tech. Rep. UCB/EECS-2006-67 (May). EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley.

[46]

Matthews, S. G. 1995. An extensional treatment of lazy data flow deadlock. Theoret. Comput. Sci. 151, 1, 195--205.

Digital Library

[47]

Ottenstein, K. J. and Ottenstein, L. M. 1984. The program dependence graph in a software development environment. SIGPLAN Notices 19, 5, 177--184.

Digital Library

[48]

Papadopoulos, G. A., Stavrou, A., and Papapetrou, O. 2006. An implementation framework for software architectures based on the coordination paradigm. Sci. Comput. Programming 60, 1, 27--67.

Digital Library

[49]

Rutten, J. J. M. M. 2005. A coinductive calculus of streams. Math. Structures Comput. Sci. 15, 1, 93--147.

Digital Library

[50]

Schneider, K., Brandt, J., and Schuele, T. 2004. Causality analysis of synchronous programs with delayed actions. In International Conference on Compilers, Architecture, and Synthesis for Embedded Systems. Washington DC.

Digital Library

[51]

Talcott, C. L. 1996. Interaction semantics for components of distributed systems. In Formal Methods for Open Object-Based Distributed Systems (FMOODS).

[52]

Thies, W., Karczmarek, M., and Amarasinghe, S. 2002. StreamIt: A language for streaming applications. In 11th International Conference on Compiler Construction. Vol. LNCS 2304. Springer-Verlag, New York.

Digital Library

[53]

Tiller, M. M. 2001. Introduction to Physical Modeling with Modelica. Kluwer Academic Publ., Novell, MA.

Digital Library

[54]

Wadge, W. 1981. An extensional treatment of data-flow deadlock. Theoret. Comput. Sci. 13, 1, 3--15.

[55]

Wegner, P., Arbab, F., Goldin, D., McBurney, P., Luck, M., and Roberson, D. 2005. The role of agent interaction in models of computation (panel summary). In Workshop on Foundations of Interactive Computation. Edinburgh.

[56]

Winskel, G. 1993. The Formal Semantics of Programming Languages. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

Digital Library

[57]

Winter, M., Genssler, T., Christoph, A., Nierstrasz, O., Ducasse, S., Wuyts, R., Arévalo, G., Müller, P., Stich, C., and Schönhage, B. 2002. Components for embedded software—the PECOS approach. In Second International Workshop on Composition Languages, In conjunction with 16th European Conference on Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP). Málaga, Spain.

[58]

Xiong, Y. 2002. An extensible type system for component-based design. Ph.D. Thesis Technical Memorandum UCB/ERL M02/13 (May). University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.

Digital Library

[59]

Yates, R. K. 1993. Networks of real-time processes. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Concurrency Theory (CONCUR), E. Best, Ed. Vol. LNCS 715. Springer-Verlag, New York.

Digital Library

Cited By

Lohstroh MMenard CBateni SLee E(2021)Toward a Lingua Franca for Deterministic Concurrent SystemsACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems10.1145/344812820:4(1-27)Online publication date: 18-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3448128
Lohstroh MLee E(2019)Deterministic Actors2019 Forum for Specification and Design Languages (FDL)10.1109/FDL.2019.8876922(1-8)Online publication date: Sep-2019
https://doi.org/10.1109/FDL.2019.8876922
Tripakis SLublinerman R(2018)Modular Code Generation from Synchronous Block Diagrams: Interfaces, Abstraction, CompositionalityPrinciples of Modeling10.1007/978-3-319-95246-8_26(449-477)Online publication date: 20-Jul-2018
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95246-8_26
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Causality interfaces for actor networks

Recommendations

A causality interface for deadlock analysis in dataflow
EMSOFT '06: Proceedings of the 6th ACM & IEEE International conference on Embedded software

In this paper, we consider a concurrent model of computation called dataflow, where components (actors) communicate via streams of data tokens. Dataflow semantics has been adopted by experimental and production languages used to design embedded systems. ...
Granular Causality Applications: Using Part-of Relations for Discovering Causality

Causal markers, syntactic structures and connectives have been the sole identifying features for automatically extracting causal relations in natural language discourse. However, various connectives such as "and", prepositions such as "as", and other ...
Mutex Causality in Processes and Traces of General Elementary Nets
Applications and Theory of Petri Nets and Other Models of Concurrency, 2011

A concurrent history represented by a causality structure that captures the intrinsic, invariant dependencies between its actions, can be interpreted as defining a set of closely related observations e.g., step sequences. Depending on the relationships ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems

ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems Volume 7, Issue 3

April 2008

437 pages

ISSN:1539-9087

EISSN:1558-3465

DOI:10.1145/1347375

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2008 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Journal Family

ACM Journals for the Design of Smart and Connected Systems

Publication History

Published: 08 May 2008

Accepted: 01 March 2007

Revised: 01 March 2007

Received: 01 November 2006

Published in TECS Volume 7, Issue 3

Permissions

Request permissions for this article.

Request Permissions

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Research-article
Research
Refereed

Funding Sources

National Science Foundation

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

19
Total Citations
View Citations
579
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)6
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)1

Reflects downloads up to 12 Nov 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Lohstroh MMenard CBateni SLee E(2021)Toward a Lingua Franca for Deterministic Concurrent SystemsACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems10.1145/344812820:4(1-27)Online publication date: 18-May-2021
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3448128
Lohstroh MLee E(2019)Deterministic Actors2019 Forum for Specification and Design Languages (FDL)10.1109/FDL.2019.8876922(1-8)Online publication date: Sep-2019
https://doi.org/10.1109/FDL.2019.8876922
Tripakis SLublinerman R(2018)Modular Code Generation from Synchronous Block Diagrams: Interfaces, Abstraction, CompositionalityPrinciples of Modeling10.1007/978-3-319-95246-8_26(449-477)Online publication date: 20-Jul-2018
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95246-8_26
Kakkad VSantosa AFekete AScholz B(2015)Computing end-to-end delays in stream query processingScience of Computer Programming10.1016/j.scico.2015.04.003105:C(124-144)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.scico.2015.04.003
Pacholik AFengler WBaumann TRath MHimmelspach JVanmechelen KCai W(2013)A model reduction approach for improving discrete event simulation performanceProceedings of the 6th International ICST Conference on Simulation Tools and Techniques10.5555/2512734.2512747(101-108)Online publication date: 5-Mar-2013
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2512734.2512747
Eidson JLee EMatic SSeshia SZou J(2012)Distributed Real-Time Software for Cyber–Physical SystemsProceedings of the IEEE10.1109/JPROC.2011.2161237100:1(45-59)Online publication date: Jan-2012
https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2011.2161237
Porter JBalasubramanian DHemingway GSztipanovits J(2011)Towards incremental cycle analysis in ESMoL distributed control system modelsProceedings of the 10th international conference on Software composition10.5555/2025951.2025963(133-140)Online publication date: 30-Jun-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2025951.2025963
Tripakis SLickly BHenzinger TLee E(2011)A Theory of Synchronous Relational InterfacesACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems10.1145/1985342.198534533:4(1-41)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1985342.1985345
Porter JBalasubramanian DHemingway GSztipanovits J(2011)Towards Incremental Cycle Analysis in ESMoL Distributed Control System ModelsSoftware Composition10.1007/978-3-642-22045-6_9(133-140)Online publication date: 2011
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-22045-6_9
Yu YRen SFrieder O(2010)Feasibility of semiring-based timing constraintsACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems10.1145/1721695.17216999:4(1-24)Online publication date: 6-Apr-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1721695.1721699
Show More Cited By

View Options

Get Access

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Article

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Issue’s Table of Contents