Π-calculus

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In theoretical computer science, the π-calculus (or pi-calculus) is a process calculus. The π-calculus allows channel names to be communicated along the channels themselves, and in this matter, it is able to describe concurrent computations whose network configuration may change during the computation. The π-calculus has few terms and is a small, yet expressive language (see § Syntax). Functional programs can be encoded into the π-calculus, and the encoding emphasises the dialogue nature of computation, drawing connections with game semantics. Extensions of the π-calculus, such as the spi calculus and applied π, have been successful in reasoning about cryptographic protocols. Beside the original use in describing concurrent systems, the π-calculus has also been used to reason through business processes, molecular biology. and autonomous agents in artificial intelligence. The π-calculus belongs to the family of process calculi, mathematical formalisms for describing and analyzing properties of concurrent computation. In fact, the π-calculus, like the λ-calculus, is so minimal that it does not contain primitives such as numbers, Booleans, data structures, variables, functions, or even the usual control flow statements (such as if-then-else, while). Central to the π-calculus is the notion of name. The simplicity of the calculus lies in the dual role that names play as communication channels and variables.