Converging CSP specifications and C++ programming via selective formalism

Abstract

CSP (communicating sequential processes) is a useful algebraic notation for creating a hierarchical behavioral specification for concurrent systems, due to its formal interprocess synchronization and communication semantics. CSP specifications are amenable to simulation and formal verification by model-checking tools. A translator has been created to synthesize C++ code from CSP for execution with an object-oriented framework called CSP++, thereby making CSP specifications directly executable. To overcome the drawback that CSP is neither a full-featured nor popular programming language, an approach called “selective formalism” allows the use of CSP to be limited to specifying the control portion of a system, while the rest of its functionality is supplied in the form of C++ modules. These are activated through association with abstract events in the CSP specification. This is a new means of bringing convergence between a formal method and a popular programming language. It is believed that this methodology can be extended to hardware/software codesign for embedded systems.