Asynchronous Components with Futures: Semantics and Proofs in Isabelle/HOL

Ludovic Henrio (1) , Muhammad Uzair Khan (1)

1 OASIS - Active objects, semantics, Internet and security

Components provide an easy to use programming paradigm allowing for better re-usability of application code. In the context of distributed programming, autonomous hierarchical components provide a simple model for creating efficient applications. This paper presents a model for distributed components communicating asynchronously using futures – placeholders for results. Our components communicate via asynchronous requests and replies where the requests are enqueued at the target component, and the invoker receives a future. Then, future references can be dispersed among components. When the result is available for a future, it needs to be transmitted to all interested components, as determined by a future update strategy. We present formal semantics of our component model incorporating formalisation of one such future update strategy. Our model has been mechanically formalised in Isabelle/HOL, together with the proof of properties. This approach validates the actual implementation of the future update strategy itself.

Mots clés: Mechanised formalisation; Components; Futures; Distributed Systems

Domaines: Informatique et langage [cs.CL]; Calcul parallèle, distribué et partagé [cs.DC]

Ludovic Henrio, Muhammad Uzair Khan. Asynchronous Components with Futures: Semantics and Proofs in Isabelle/HOL. 7th International Workshop on Formal Engineering approaches to Software Components and Architectures, Mar 2010, Paphos, Cyprus. pp.1-20. ⟨inria-00462325⟩