Partially-Distributed Coordination with Reo (Technical Report)

Coordination languages, as Reo, have emerged for the specification and implementation of interaction protocols among concurrent entities. In this paper, we propose a framework for generating partially-distributed, partially-centralized implementations of Reo connectors to improve 1) build-time compilation and 2) run-time throughput and parallelism. Our framework relies on the definition of a new formal product operator on constraint automata (Reo's formal semantics), which enables the formally correct distribution of disjoint parts of a coordination scheme over different machines according to several possible motivations (e.g., performance, privacy, QoS constraints, resource availability, network topology). First, we describe the design and a proof-of-concept implementation of our framework. Then, in a case study, we show and explain how a generated connector implementation can be executed in the Cloud and supports Big Data coordination

Partially distributed coordination with Reo and constraint automata

Algorithms and the Foundations of Software technolog

A distributed computational model for Reo.

The work described in this document aims at producing a formal computational model for the Reo coordination language, that can facilitate the implementation of Reo circuits in a distributed computing environment. The model introduced here partially covers what Reo requires - it implements a less strict form of the merge behavior of mixed nodes. While this already allows computing of a large class of useful circuits, it does not properly deal with some synchronous circuits that contain LossySync channels. This work has lead to a new and more powerful approach to computing the behavior of Reo circuits, called Connector Colorin

Handshaking Protocol for Distributed Implementation of Reo

Reo, an exogenous channel-based coordination language, is a model for service coordination wherein services communicate through connectors formed by joining binary communication channels. In order to establish transactional communication among services as prescribed by connector semantics, distributed ports exchange handshaking messages signalling which parties are ready to provide or consume data. In this paper, we present a formal implementation model for distributed Reo with communication delays and outline ideas for its proof of correctness. To reason about Reo implementation formally, we introduce Timed Action Constraint Automata (TACA) and explain how to compare TACA with existing automata-based semantics for Reo. We use TACA to describe handshaking behavior of Reo modeling primitives and argue that in any distributed circuit remote Reo nodes and channels exposing such behavior commit to perform transitions envisaged by the network semantics.Comment: In Proceedings FOCLASA 2014, arXiv:1502.0315

Toward Sequentializing Overparallelized Protocol Code

In our ongoing work, we use constraint automata to compile protocol specifications expressed as Reo connectors into efficient executable code, e.g., in C. We have by now studied this automata based compilation approach rather well, and have devised effective solutions to some of its problems. Because our approach is based on constraint automata, the approach, its problems, and our solutions are in fact useful and relevant well beyond the specific case of compiling Reo. In this short paper, we identify and analyze two such rather unexpected problems.Comment: In Proceedings ICE 2014, arXiv:1410.701

Coordination via Interaction Constraints I: Local Logic

Wegner describes coordination as constrained interaction. We take this approach literally and define a coordination model based on interaction constraints and partial, iterative and interactive constraint satisfaction. Our model captures behaviour described in terms of synchronisation and data flow constraints, plus various modes of interaction with the outside world provided by external constraint symbols, on-the-fly constraint generation, and coordination variables. Underlying our approach is an engine performing (partial) constraint satisfaction of the sets of constraints. Our model extends previous work on three counts: firstly, a more advanced notion of external interaction is offered; secondly, our approach enables local satisfaction of constraints with appropriate partial solutions, avoiding global synchronisation over the entire constraints set; and, as a consequence, constraint satisfaction can finally occur concurrently, and multiple parts of a set of constraints can be solved and interact with the outside world in an asynchronous manner, unless synchronisation is required by the constraints. This paper describes the underlying logic, which enables a notion of local solution, and relates this logic to the more global approach of our previous work based on classical logic

Distributed Enforcement of Service Choreographies

Modern service-oriented systems are often built by reusing, and composing together, existing services distributed over the Internet. Service choreography is a possible form of service composition whose goal is to specify the interactions among participant services from a global perspective. In this paper, we formalize a method for the distributed and automated enforcement of service choreographies, and prove its correctness with respect to the realization of the specified choreography. The formalized method is implemented as part of a model-based tool chain released to support the development of choreography-based systems within the EU CHOReOS project. We illustrate our method at work on a distributed social proximity network scenario.Comment: In Proceedings FOCLASA 2014, arXiv:1502.0315

Connectors meet Choreographies

We present Cho-Reo-graphies (CR), a new language model that unites two powerful programming paradigms for concurrent software based on communicating processes: Choreographic Programming and Exogenous Coordination. In CR, programmers specify the desired communications among processes using a choreography, and define how communications should be concretely animated by connectors given as constraint automata (e.g., synchronous barriers and asynchronous multi-casts). CR is the first choreography calculus where different communication semantics (determined by connectors) can be freely mixed; since connectors are user-defined, CR also supports many communication semantics that were previously unavailable for choreographies. We develop a static analysis that guarantees that a choreography in CR and its user-defined connectors are compatible, define a compiler from choreographies to a process calculus based on connectors, and prove that compatibility guarantees deadlock-freedom of the compiled process implementations

Treo: Textual Syntax for Reo Connectors

Reo is an interaction-centric model of concurrency for compositional specification of communication and coordination protocols. Formal verification tools exist to ensure correctness and compliance of protocols specified in Reo, which can readily be (re)used in different applications, or composed into more complex protocols. Recent benchmarks show that compiling such high-level Reo specifications produces executable code that can compete with or even beat the performance of hand-crafted programs written in languages such as C or Java using conventional concurrency constructs. The original declarative graphical syntax of Reo does not support intuitive constructs for parameter passing, iteration, recursion, or conditional specification. This shortcoming hinders Reo's uptake in large-scale practical applications. Although a number of Reo-inspired syntax alternatives have appeared in the past, none of them follows the primary design principles of Reo: a) declarative specification; b) all channel types and their sorts are user-defined; and c) channels compose via shared nodes. In this paper, we offer a textual syntax for Reo that respects these principles and supports flexible parameter passing, iteration, recursion, and conditional specification. In on-going work, we use this textual syntax to compile Reo into target languages such as Java, Promela, and Maude.Comment: In Proceedings MeTRiD 2018, arXiv:1806.0933