Software Architecture Specification with π - calculus ∗ Carlos Canal Ernesto Pimentel

The application of formal methods to the development of software depends on the availability of adequate models and formalisms for each of the levels of the development process. In this paper we focus in the level of design called Software Architecture. At this level, the system is described as a collection of interrelated components. Process algebras, such as Milner’s π-calculus seem to be a good candidate for the specification of system’s components. However, the relations of bisimilarity established for the π-calculus are not well suited for this level of specification, where a less strict relation, which we call compatibility, would be preferable. Thus, we introduce a relation of process compatibility in the context of the π-calculus which formalizes the intuitive notion of compatibility among processes. The suitability of our approach is shown by means of a case study.