Concurrency: State Models and Java Programs [Hardcover]

Jeff Magee (Author), Jeff Kramer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 4, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0470093552 | ISBN-13: 978-0470093559 | Edition: 2

Concurrency provides a thoroughly updated approach to the basic concepts and techniques behind concurrent programming. Concurrent programming is complex and demands a much more formal approach than sequential programming. In order to develop a thorough understanding of the topic Magee and Kramer present concepts, techniques and problems through a variety of forms: informal descriptions, illustrative examples, abstract models and concrete Java examples. These combine to provide problem patterns and associated solution techniques which enable students to recognise problems and arrive at solutions.

New features include:

• New chapters covering program verification and logical properties.
• More student exercises.
• Supporting website contains an updated version of the LTSA tool for modelling concurrency, model animation, and model checking.
• Website also includes the full set of state models, java examples, and demonstration programs and a comprehensive set of overhead slides for course presentation.

   

Editorial Reviews

Review

..."this well written book [...] will be useful to those designing distributed systems"
--Computing Reviews, June 2000

From the Back Cover

‘I love this book! It is beautifully written and the combined FSP/Java approach to model-based development is leading-edge.  The supporting materials, including the LTSA software and the lecture slides, are superb.’ (Scott Smolka, SUNY at Stony Brook)

This book provides a systematic and practical approach to designing, analyzing and implementing concurrent programs, using both state models and Java programs to introduce and illustrate key concepts and techniques. Topics covered include:

• threads and interaction
• interference, exclusion and synchronization
• deadlock, safety and liveness properties
• message passing
• concurrent software architectures
• dynamic and timed systems.

Established as a key learning resource for computer science graduate and undergraduate students, this second edition includes new coverage of Program Verification and Logical Properties. The accompanying website contains an updated version of the LTSA tool for modeling concurrency, model animation and model checking. The website also includes the full set of state models, Java examples and demonstration programs and a comprehensive series of overhead slides for course presentation.

Ideal for classroom use or self-study, this book provides readers with the means to understand the fundamentals and practice of concurrency.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 434 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (July 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470093552
• ISBN-13: 978-0470093559
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #776,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is could be a classic CS book, December 3, 1999

By 

Robert Fielding - See all my reviews

This review is from: Concurrency: State Models & Java Programs (Hardcover)

This book does not belong with other Java books. This is a real computer science textbook that should be sitting next to Rivest's Algorithms book. The use of Java is incidental and makes the book very accessible without detracting from the issues at hand. It has to be one of the most well conceived computer science books ever written.

The material covered is maddeningly difficult to master informally because concurrency errors often manifest themselves as rare, random, and disastrous events that cannot be reproduced. Most of the book is laying down a solid formal foundation in which to reason about concurrency; the only hope for getting it right when things are difficult. It also comes with analysis tools (in Java of course!) to help people who learn by exploration, experimentation, and visualisation.

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Textbook on Concurrency Theory and Practice, April 20, 1999

By 

Wolfgang Emmerich ([e-mail]) (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Concurrency: State Models & Java Programs (Hardcover)

I have used Magee and Kramer's book (or rather their manuscript) twice in the UG programme of the Dept. of Computer Science at University Collge London. I used it to teach a 30 hours course on Concurrency to final year BSc students in Computer Science.

The book is very appealing for several reasons:

Firstly, it is the only available book that provides an engineering discipline to concurrency. It covers both a sound introduction to the theory of concurrency and practical guidelines how to design concurrent programs using the UML and Java.

Secondly, the book is nicely written indeed. The concepts are well motivated, the intriguingly difficult theory of concurrency is well explained and the book is full of examples that show both theory and practice of Concurrency.

Thirdly, the book is not only a book; it's a nicely boundled package. It comes with Java demonstration applets that I used to visualize concurrency concepts, such as Monitors, Mutual Exclusion and Fairness in the class room. Moreover, the book includes a CD with a tool that students (and professors) can use for modelling and model checking purposes. The tool implements labelled transition systems analysis and supports visualization of label transition system execution. Finally the web site that accompanies the book is full of exercises and exam questions and model answers are available too.

Using this material was a truly positive experience.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Concurrency for the new millenium, September 27, 1999

By 

Judith Bishop ([e-mail]) (South Africa and Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Concurrency: State Models & Java Programs (Hardcover)

I have also used this book in manuscript form for two years at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and am now using it in Victoria, Canada. In both cases, the book forms the introductory part to a larger course on object-oriented distributed systems.

Without this book the students would be lost in the mire of COM, RMI, CORBA etc and learn no principles to carry them through after graduation. Magee and Kramer package up the classical Hoare CSP in such a way that it is palatable, easy to use, and really illustrates difficult points to students on-line. Students say the course is fun. It is fitting that this book should appear just as Tony Hoare retires from Oxford. Magee and Kramer show how concurrency should be done in the new millenium.

Just one word of warning: there are five notations to master in the book: FSP modelling, LTS diagrams, UML diagrams, structure diagrams and Java. I found that being forewarned on this aspect helped me explain the need for all of them to students.