Concurrent Processes as Objects (Abstract)

The π-calculus is a relatively new algebraic calculus for communicating processes, in the tradition of process algebras [1, 3, 4, 5]. It goes a step further than these in one respect: it models processes whose configuration is dynamically varying. This enrichment gives the calculus status as a general computational model. Its main character is what may be called the object paradigm, since it most directly represents the action and reaction among independently existing agents. It also embraces the function paradigm, since both functions (the λ-calculus) and data can be accurately encoded as processes.