I am delighted to announce that a new textbook is ready to preorder:

  Modelling Distributed Systems
  by Wan Fokkink
  Springer-Verlag, November 2007
  ISBN 978-3-540-73937-1


  For more information...

  www.springer.com/west/home?SGWID=4-102-22-173751350-0&changeHeader=true&SHORTCUT=www.springer.com/978-3-540-73937-1


  For extra material (slides, labs)...

  http://www.cs.vu.nl/~wanf/books.html


COVER BLURB:

A distributed system is driven by separate components that are executed in parallel,
and protocols for such systems form a major aspect of system design in today's world
of wireless and mobile networking. Process algebras are languages for the description
of elementary parallel systems and are used to study the behavioural properties of
distributed systems, but they often lack the ability to handle data.

This textbook guides students through algebraic specification and verification of
distributed systems, and some of the most prominent formal verification techniques.
The author employs µCRL as the vehicle, a language developed to combine process algebra
and abstract data types. Chapters 2 and 3 explain the basics of abstract data types and
process algebra, and guide the reader through the syntax and semantics of µCRL; Chap. 4
examines abstraction from internal behaviour; Chap. 5 covers specifications of standard
protocols; Chap. 6 shows how to transform protocol specifications into labelled
transition systems; Chap. 7 explains algorithms on labelled transition systems; and
Chap. 8 presents symbolic verification techniques; finally, the Appendix gives a brief
overview of the µCRL toolset.

The book evolved from introductory courses on protocol verification taught to
undergraduate and graduate students of computer science, and the text is supported
throughout with examples and exercises; full solutions are provided in an appendix,
while exercise sheets, lab exercises, example specifications and lecturer slides will
be available on the author's website. Researchers in the field can use the book as a
broad overview of the state of the art in algebraic specification and verification of
distributed systems on the basis of a modern verification tool.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Abstract Data Types
- Algebraic Specification
- Term Rewriting
- Equality Functions
- Induction

Process Algebra
- Actions
- Alternative and Sequential Composition
- Parallel Processes
- Deadlock and Encapsulation
- Process Declarations
- Conditionals
- Summation over a Data Type
- An Example: The Bag
- Renaming
- Bisimilarity

Hiding Internal Transitions
- Hiding of Actions
- Summary
- An Example: Two One-Bit Buffers in Sequence
- Branching Bisimilarity

Protocol Specifications
- Alternating Bit Protocol
- Bounded Retransmission Protocol
- Sliding Window Protocol
- Tree Identify Protocol
- Movable Patient Support for an MRI Scanner

Linear Process Equations
- Linearisation
- State Space Generation and Storage
- CL-RSP
- Invariants

Verification Algorithms on State Spaces
- Minimisation Modulo Branching Bisimulation
- Confluence
- Model Checking
- Abstraction

Symbolic Methods
- Cones and Foci
- Verification of the Tree Identify Protocol
- Partial Order Reduction
- Elimination of Parameters and Sum Variables
- Symbolic Model Checking

The µCRL Toolset in a Nutshell