Processes and Games
Kohei Honda · Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science · 2004
A general theory of computing is important, if we wish to have a common mathematical footing based on which diverse scientific and engineering efforts in computing are uniformly understood and integrated. A quest for such a general theory may take different paths. As a case for one of the possible paths towards a general theory, this paper establishes a precise connection between a game-based model of sequential functions by Hyland and Ong on the one hand, and a typed version of the π-calculus on the other. This connection has been instrumental in our recent efforts to use the π-calculus as a basic mathematical tool for representing diverse classes of behaviours, even though the exact form of the correspondence has not been presented in a published form. By redeeming this correspondence we try to make explicit a convergence of ideas and structures between two distinct threads of Theoretical Computer Science. This convergence indicates a methodology for organizing our understanding on computation and that methodology, we argue, suggests one of the promising paths to a general theory.