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Towards a High-Level Petri Net Type Definition. Michael Westergaard Department of Computer Science University of Aarhus Denmark. Difficulties. Labels are not just non-negative integers, but can range over an arbitrary domain – is “1`2++4`7” the same as “<2>+4*<7>”?
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Towards aHigh-Level Petri Net Type Definition Michael Westergaard Department of Computer Science University of Aarhus Denmark
Difficulties • Labels are not just non-negative integers, but can range over an arbitrary domain – is “1`2++4`7” the same as “<2>+4*<7>”? • High-level Petri nets (HLPN) often support elaborate composition mechanisms, which have to be dealt with – should we extend PNML to support hierarchical nets?
Outline • Labels • Composition Constructs • Hierarchical Petri Nets • Fusion • Implementation Status
Labels • We have identified the following labelsfor high-level Petri nets: • (Names,) • Declarations (of types and variables), • Place types, • Initial markings, • Arc inscriptions, and • Transition guards. • To support interchange, we have defined structures for: • Identifiers (for names, declarations, and place markings), • Types (for type declarations), • Multi-sets (for initial markings and arc inscriptions), and • Expressions.
Labels • Take as example a net witha place named A withdomain INTand initialmarking one token withvalue 2 and four tokenswith value 7 • We notice • Two (three) new labels, thedomain, the initial marking (and the name) • The initial marking is rather complex, and several reasonable concrete syntaxes can express it, e.g. • CPN Tools: 1`2++4`7 • CPN-AMI: <2> + 4*<7>
Labels – Solution 1:Store as Concrete Syntax Example • We would store the initial marking as follows(using the concrete syntax of CPN Tools):<initialMarking> <text>1`2++4`7</text></initialMarking> Advantage • Very simple approach; high-level labels are a direct generalization of low-level labels Disadvantage • Different tools use different syntaxes to express the same • CPN Tools: 1`2++4`7, or • CPN-AMI: <2> + 4*<7>. and this makes interchange difficult
Labels – Solution 2:Store as Abstract Syntax Tree Example • We would store the initial marking as follows:<initialMarking> <multiset> <valuecardinality=”1”><text>2</text></value> <valuecardinality=”4”><text>7</text></value> </multiset></initialMarking> Advantage • Eliminates differences in concrete syntax Disadvantages • Difficult to make simple editors that do not completely parse and check inscriptions • Cumbersome to add new features, as a new AST node has to be defined
Labels – Solution 3:Mix Abstract and Concrete Syntax Example • We would allowing the initial marking to bestored as either:<initialMarking> <text>1`2++4`7</text></initialMarking>or<initialMarking> <multiset> <valuecardinality=”1”><text>2</text></value> <valuecardinality=”4”><text>7</text></value> </multiset></initialMarking> Advantages • Tools can save as much or as little using abstract syntax as desired – trade-off between interchangeability and simplicity • New features can easily be incorporated by using concrete syntax until an appropriate AST node is defined
Labels – Solution 3:Mix Abstract and Concrete Syntax Added benefits • Allows an incremental transition to theinterchange format, as tool implementers can choose to save only some (parts of) labels as ASTs • Allows the format to be used as primary storageformat, as incorrect (and therefore unparsable) inscriptions can be saved using concrete syntax
Composition Constructs • A number of composition constructsexist for high-level Petri nets: • Hierarchical nets • Fusion places • Synchronous channels • etc. • Composition mechanisms can be represented by adding new labels or special nodes • Example: Fusion places can be implemented by adding a label fusionGroup, which indicates to what fusion group the place belongs
Composition Constructs • If we implement the compositionconstructs by a translation toModular PNML, they will be availableto a wider range of tools • Tools only need to support Modular PNML, and we need not clutter the standard with more or less useful improvements • Modular PNML can be mechanically flattened to Basic PNML, so support for Modular PNML is not essential • Expressed like this, the composition mechanisms are no longer tied to high-level Petri nets
A Fusion Places:Canonical Member Page: Producer Select one member and convert it to a normal place Select one member and convert it to a normal place Make all other members point to the selected place Select one member and convert it to a normal place Make all other members point to the selected place • If a tool does not know about fusion places, how do we easily remove the place B from the fusion group? • What happens if we have more than one instance of the Consumer-page? Page: Consumer
A Page: Storage 1`2++4`7 Storage INT B Fusion Places:Create a New Global Place • Deletion is now easy: just do it • It is easy to add a place to or remove a place from the group: just update the pointer • Multiple instances just amount to multiple pointers, which is fine Page: Producer Create a new page with a new place Create a new page with a new place Make all the members point to it Create a new page with a new place Make all the members point to it Create a new page with a new place Make all the members point to it Page: Consumer
Module: Counted transmit A B Counted transmit A B Hierarchical Petri Nets Convert the sub-page to a module Convert the sub-page to a module Move all port-places to the interface Convert the sub-page to a module Move all port-places to the interface Convert the substitution-transition to an instance of the module Convert the sub-page to a module Move all port-places to the interface Convert the substitution-transition to an instance of the module Page: Produce/Consume Page: Counted transmit
Implementation Status • A preliminary PNTD for high-level Petrinets is written • A transformation from PT-nets to the proposed format has been written • A transformation from the current storage-format of CPN Tools to the proposed format has been written • A tool for composition of high-level Petri nets stored using the proposed format is written All is available from http://www.daimi.au.dk/~mw/local/pnml/. (the address is also in the paper)
Conclusion • We have shown 3 different ways to represent labels: • using concrete syntax only, • using abstract syntax only, and • using a mixture of concrete and abstract syntax. • We have argued that the 3rd way is the best, as it is more flexible and allows interchange between tools not sharing concrete syntax • We have seen reasonable ways to translate common composition mechanisms to Modular PNML equivalents, in particular: • Hierarchical Petri nets and • Fusion Places.
Difficulties Revisited • Labels are not just non-negative integers, but can range over an arbitrary domain – is “1`2++4`7” the same as “<2>+4*<7>”? Yes, store them as abstract syntax. • High-level Petri nets (HLPN) often support elaborate composition mechanisms, which have to be dealt with – should we extend PNML to support hierarchical nets? No, convert them to use Modular PNML.
Future Work • Definition of AST nodes for more functions in expressions, such as • arithmetical operators • string operations • Division of expressions into reasonable chunks (suitable for e.g. well-formed nets and general coloured Petri nets)
Labels – Solution 3:Mix Abstract and Concrete Syntax Not a clear-cut separation • E. Kindler proposes in the April 2004proposal for ISO/IEC 15909-2 a similarapproach to the representation labels • Kindlers proposal requires that a label is stored either using concrete syntax or using abstract syntax • Our proposal allows<declaration> <type> <name>PRIME</name> <type><text>prime</text></type> </type></declaration>which clearly is a type-declaration even though the type “prime” is not standardized • Thus not having a clear-cut separation of abstract and concrete syntax makes it easy to simulate new AST nodes