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Communicating sequential processes

Category: Communication · Status: stub · Lessons: chapter 05, Message passing (planned)

One line: Tony Hoare's model of independent processes that interact only through synchronous channels — the idea behind Go's goroutines and channels.

Also called: CSP.

How it connects

flowchart LR
  n_actor_model["Actor model"]
  n_csp["Communicating sequential processes"]
  n_message_passing["Message passing"]
  n_unbuffered_channel["Unbuffered channel"]
  n_actor_model ---|vs| n_csp
  n_csp -->|is a| n_message_passing
  n_csp -->|uses| n_unbuffered_channel
  classDef center stroke-width:3px
  class n_csp center
  classDef outside stroke-dasharray: 4 3
  class n_actor_model,n_message_passing,n_unbuffered_channel outside

In each language
Go goroutines and channels; the Go FAQ ↗ explains why Go built its concurrency on the ideas of CSP
Java SynchronousQueue ↗, whose docs compare it to the rendezvous channels of CSP and Ada
Elsewhere Clojure's core.async ↗, with channels and go blocks

Where to read more