Process Algebra as Abstract Data Types

Abstract

In this paper we introduced an algebraic semantics for process algebra in form of abstract data types. For that purpose, we developed a particular type of algebra, the seed algebra, which describes exactly the behavior of a process within a labeled transition system. We have shown the possibility of characterizing the bisimulation of two processes with the isomorphism of their corresponding seed algebras. We pointed out that the traditional concept of isomorphism of algebra does not apply here, because there is even no one-one correspondence between the elements of two seed algebras. The lack of this one-one correspondence comes from the non-deterministic choice of transitions of a process. We introduce a technique of hidden operations to mask unwanted details of elements of a seed algebra, which only reflect non-determinism or other implicit control mechanism of process transition. Elements of a seed algebra are considered as indistinguishable if they show the same behavior after these unwanted details are masked. Each class of indistinguishable elements is called a non-hidden closure. We proved that bisimulation of two processes is equivalent to isomorphism of non-hidden closures of two seed algebras representing these two processes. We call this kind of isomorphism a deep isomorphism. We get different models of seed algebra by specifying different axiom systems for the same signature. Each model corresponds to a different kind of bisimulation. By proving the relations between these models we also established relations between 10 different bisimulations, which form a acyclic directed graph.