Abstract specification of resource accessing disciplines: adequacy, starvation, priority and interrupts

A macro notation incorporating path notation is introduced. The notation was designed to permit the specification of the behaviour of a distributed system in terms of resources characterized by associated synchronization statements. The proper co-ordination of processes using the resources can thus be stated as the permissible order of execution of operations on shared resources as part of the resource definition. This contrasts with the usual "process oriented" approach which associates synchronization statements with the processes using the resource. This makes proper co-ordination of processes part of the individual task of each process. We argue that the process oriented approach is not suited for specifying highly parallel systems with distributed decision capabilities. The notions of adequacy, starvation, priority and interrupts are discussed in the context of our "resource oriented" approach and compared with thei counterparts in a "process oriented" approach. Semi formal demonstrations of the adequacy of simple but realistic example systems are sketched.