Concurrent Object-Oriented Programming and Petri Nets

Concurrency and distribution have become the dominant paradigm and concern in computer science. Despite the fact that much of the early research in object-oriented programming focused on sequential systems, objects are a natural unit of distribution and concurrency - as elucidated early on by research on the Actor model. Thus, models and theories of concurrency, the oldest one being Petri nets, and their relation to objects are an attractive topic of study.
This book presents state-of-the-art results on Petri nets and concurrent object-oriented programming in a coherent and competent way. The 24 thoroughly reviewed and revised papers are organized in three sections. The first consists of long papers, each presenting a detailed approach to integrating Petri nets and object-orientation. Section II includes shorter papers with emphasis on concrete examples to demonstrate the approach. Finally, section III is devoted to papers which significantly build on the Actor model of computation.

Contenu

Section I.- Object Oriented Modelling with Object Petri Nets.- Using Petri Nets for Specifying Active Objects and Generative Communication.- Object-Oriented Nets with Algebraic Specifications: The CO-OPN/2 Formalism.- CLOWN as a Testbed for Concurrent Object-Oriented Concepts.- Concurrency in Communicating Object Petri Nets.- Object Orientation in Hierarchical Predicate Transition Nets.- CoOperative Objects: Principles, Use and Implementation.- OB(PN)2: An Object Based Petri Net Programming Notation.- On Formalizing UML with High-Level Petri Nets.- Section II.- Modeling a Groupware Editing Tool with Cooperative Objects.- Modelling Constrained Geometric Objects with OBJSA Nets.- An Object-Based Modular CPN Approach: Its Application to the Specification of a Cooperative Editing Environment.- KRON: Knowledge Engineering Approach Based on the Integration of CPNs with Objects.- Modeling of a Library with THORNs.- Inheritance of Dynamic Behavior Development of a Groupware Editor.- Object Coloured Petri Nets - A Formal Technique for Object Oriented Modelling.- Section III.- An Actor Algebra for Specifying Distributed Systems: The Hurried Philosophers Case Study.- Formal Reasoning about Actor Programs Using Temporal Logic.- Flexible Types for a Concurrent Model.- High Level Transition Systems for Communicating Agents.- Schedulability Analysis of Real Time Actor Systems Using Coloured Petri Nets.- Control Properties in Object-Oriented Specifications.- Case Studies.- A Cooperative Petri Net Editor.- The Hurried Philosophers.