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FAQ on Pi-Calculus [pdf]
- arethuza 17y agoThat is interesting - particularly the comment that you can express lambda calculus in pi-calculus but not (as I read it) the other way round. Is anyone trying to build a "real world" programming language that is strictly defined in terms of pi-calculus? Given the emphasis in pi-calculus on communication and transportability of channels themselves that might work out a better basis for a real programming language than lambda calculus seems to have been for functional languages (or predicate calculus for logical languages, which don't seem very popular these days).
- mark_h 17y agoBenjamin Pierce's pict is the main one I'm aware of, but I think it was more an exercise than anything else (in practice if not intention): http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/papers/pict/Html/Pict.html http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/papers/pict/Html/Pict.htm...
- OliverM 17y agoThe FAQ does list several languages based on the pi-calculus. My favourite is Mozart/Oz (http://www.mozart-oz.org http://www.mozart-oz.org) - it is based on the pi-calculus (using dataflow variables for channels) and also encodes the lambda-calculus. A wonderful concurrent functional programming language is the result (leaving aside its distributed and constraint capabilities, which build on the pi & lambda calculi base).
- mark_h 17y agoRight, that's the first reference I've seen of Oz being based on the pi-calculus! I'll have to have a closer look; Mozart/Oz has been on my list for a while now, but has slipped down the pile a bit.
- alexandros 17y agoThis is very interesting. Has anyone seen any models of HTTP in pi-calculus? A quick search didn't turn anything up, but then http is a tainted keyword.