In: Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC'2000), 8-11 October 2000, Nashville, TN, Vol. 4, pages 3134-3140. 2000.
Abstract: This paper integrates two methodologies and technologies: distributed object-oriented programming and visual programming with object-oriented Petri nets. Distributed object-oriented systems are represented be means of active objects, called actors. Formal specification of actors is achieved by means of object-oriented Petri nets that are based on colored Petri nets, enriched by object-oriented paradigm. These two methods are combined into a single methodology of formal specification of distributed systems with actors by means of object-oriented Petri nets. Object-oriented petri nets are based on viewing objects as active servers that offer reentrant services to other objects. A class consists of an object net describing the internal activity and several nets describing the services the class provides to other classes.
Keywords: actors, distributed systems, formal specifications, object-oriented Petri nets, object-oriented programming, visual programming.