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Relativity and Abstract State Machines

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System Analysis and Modeling: Theory and Practice (SAM 2012)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNPSE,volume 7744))

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Abstract

The Abstract State Machine (ASM) formalism has proved an effective and durable foundation for the formal semantics of SDL. The distributed ASMs that underpin the SDL semantics are defined in terms of agents that execute ASM programs concurrently, acting on partial views of a global state. The discrete identities of successive global states are ensured by allowing input from the external world only between steps, and by having all agents refer to an external global time. But distributed systems comprising independent agents do not have a natural global time. Nor do they have natural global states. This paper takes well-known concepts from relativity and applies them to ASMs. The spacetime in which an ASM exists and moves is defined, and some properties that must be preserved by transformations of the frame of reference of an ASM are identified. Practical implications of this approach are explored through reservation and web service examples.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, Aberystwyth University, Penglais, Aberystwyth, SY23 3DB, Wales, UK

    Edel Sherratt

Authors
  1. Edel Sherratt
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. SINTEF, Blindern, P.O. Box 124, N-0314, Oslo, Norway

    Øystein Haugen

  2. Telecommunications Software Engineering, The Laurels, Victoria Road, LA23 2DL, Windermere, UK

    Rick Reed

  3. University of Kaiserslautern, 67653, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Reinhard Gotzhein

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Sherratt, E. (2013). Relativity and Abstract State Machines. In: Haugen, Ø., Reed, R., Gotzhein, R. (eds) System Analysis and Modeling: Theory and Practice. SAM 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7744. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36757-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36757-1_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-36756-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-36757-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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