A typed language for distributed mobile processes (extended abstract)

Abstract

We describe a foundational language for specifying dynamically evolving networks of distributed processes, Dπ. The language is a distributed extension of the π-calculus which incorporates the notions of remote execution, migration, and site failure. Novel features of Dπ include 1. Communication channels are explicitly located: the use of a channel requires knowledge of both the channel and its location. 2. Names are endowed with permissions: the holder of a name may only use that name in the manner allowed by these permissions.A type system is proposed in which-the types control the allocation of permissions; in well-typed processes all names are used in accordance with the permissions allowed by the types. We prove Subject Reduction and Type Safety Theorems for the type system. In the final section we define a semantic theory based on barbed bisimulations and discuss its characterization in terms of a bisimulation relation over a relativized labelled transition system.