This project will build initially an environment that supports Milner's Calculus of Communicating Systems. CCS provides a simple and general model of concurrency based on processes communicating via ports, and is also a formal system in which semantics is represented nonprocedurally, i.e. via inference and equational rules. The experiment with the CCS environment will be performed by using it in several ongoing research projects involving concurrent systems. These experiments will provide critical feedback on the environment's effectiveness. The CCS environment will also serve as a laboratory to investigate how the principles on which it is based extend to other languages. This is an attempt to develop understanding of environments for the specification and design of concurrent systems. Improved understanding of such environments will be important in future designs.
