Issue 1108 - isolation levels

Martin,

not sure this has been dealt with because of the issue below.

Begin forwarded message:

> Resent-From: public-ws-chor@w3.org
> From: "Gary Brown" <gary@pi4tech.com>
> Date: 19 April 2005 12:56:51 BST
> To: <public-ws-chor@w3.org>
> Subject: Example showing problem with current isolation semantics in 
> CDL
>
> Hi
>  
> After the recent discussion on isolation being inherited from the 
> enclosing choreography, I wanted to outline the following example to 
> show how simply changing the isolation attribute of an enclosing 
> choreography can significantly change the behavior of the 
> choreography.
>  
> <choreo A>
>     <variable name="var1" />
>      <variable name="var2" />
>     <choreo B isolation=true >
>
>         <assign value "x" to "var1" />
>          <assign value "x" to "var2" />
>     </choreo>
>     <choreo C isolation=true >
>          <assign value "y" to "var1" />
>          <assign value "y" to "var2" />
>     </choreo>
>  
>     <parallel>
>         <perform choreo B>
>              <bind var1/>
>              <bind var2/>
>         </perform>
>         <perform choreo C>
>              <bind var1/>
>              <bind var2/>
>         </perform>
>     </parallel>
> </choreo>
>  
> If choreo A is not isolated, then choreo B and C are isolated in their 
> own right - and therefore because they are both accessing common 
> variables, I assume that one or the other of the performs will wait 
> until the other has completed - so in fact they will be performed in 
> sequence. [If this assumption is not true, then I need to have an 
> explanation of the behavior when two sub-choreos have the same 
> isolated variable - at what point do they wait?]
>  
> Therefore the result would be that both variables would have the same 
> value - either 'x' or 'y' depending on the order in which the 
> sub-choreos were actually performed.
>  
> However, if we now make choreo A isolated, the isolated attribute on B 
> and C is now ignored, as the isolation is inherited from the parent 
> choreography (as described at the last f2f).
>  
> This now means that because the variables 'var1' and 'var2' are within 
> the same isolation scope, when the two sub-choreos are performed, 
> there is no waiting/blocking. This means that the result of the 
> overall choreography is non-deterministic, the variables could have 
> any combination of 'x' or 'y'.
>  
> The problem is that a sub-choreography may be defined on the basis of 
> having isolation semantics - and this is effectively overridden when 
> performed from an already isolated choreography. Whereas if nested 
> isolation was supported, the semantics of the sub-choreographies would 
> be preserved, regardless of the isolation status of the enclosing 
> choreography.
>  
> This example is showing a simple example, but in a real example the 
> isolation of a top level choreography could have unforeseen 
> consequences on a sub-choreography that is many levels of nesting 
> removed from the isolated choreography. A case of a small change 
> having a significant impact on bahavior.
>  
> Regards
> Gary

Received on Tuesday, 10 May 2005 18:56:15 UTC