Open License Computer Books

This book describes a method for writing concurrent computer programs of high quality. It is written for professional programmers and students who are faced with the complicated task of building reliable computer operating systems or real-time control programs.

The motivations for mastering concurrent programming are both economic and intellectual. Concurrent programming makes it possible to use a computer where many things need attention at the same time--be they people at terminals or temperatures in an industrial plant. It is without doubt the most difficult form of programming.

Erlang is a concurrent functional programming language designed for programming large industrial real-time systems. Erlang is dynamically typed and has a pattern matching syntax. Functions are defined using recursion equations. Erlang provides explicit concurrency, has asynchronous message passing and is relatively free from side effects.

Distributed Erlang programs can run transparently on cross-platform multi-vendor systems. The language has primitives for detecting run-time errors and for dynamic code replacement (i.e. changes to code can be made in a running real-time system, without stopping system).

Communicating Sequential Processes, or CSP, is a language for describing patterns of interaction. It is supported by an elegant, mathematical theory, a set of proof tools, and an extensive literature. The book Communicating Sequential Processes was first published in 1985 by Prentice Hall International (who have kindly released the copyright); it is an excellent introduction to the language, and also to the mathematical theory.